Bringing Up The Family
by silverbullet-1st
Summary: Sequal to 'Together Forever'. Hermione gives her family some rather unexpected news. How will they react to this news and what about all the new romance's that seem to be blossoming?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter One **

James and Lilly were born on the sixteenth of May, seven and a half minutes apart in a ward at St. Mungos. Ron and Lilly were made their god parents.

Three years later, in the same ward at St. Mungos Hermione gave birth to a boy, whom the two of them decided to call Sirius. His God Parents were none other then Fred and George themselves, who were of course absolutely delighted. This, all being Harry's idea, worried Hermione and she dreaded what the twins would send the poor child on his birthday.

Another five years passed before Thomas was born. His God Parents were Ginny and Dean, who looked slightly horrified that he had been given such a responsibility, but was soon calmed down.

It was another three years until the fourth and final (or so they hoped) Potter boy was welcomed into the big wide world. This time, Hermione's parents asked if they could name him Marcus and Harry and Hermione told them that it would be fine.

Now, I know this is all getting kind of confusing, but there's only one more child to go, so hang in there!

Lucy Potter was their last child (well, for now anyway –wink, wink-) her God Parents were Luna and Neville. Yes, that's right Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom, being the only one who understood the poor girl.

And that's the Potter Clan.

----

"James Potter, if you don't give that back to me this second!" Lilly shouted, racing down the stairs after her twin. "Then you will be SO sorry!" James laughed and sprinted into the garden.

"You want it, you come and get it," James replied, smiling and stopping by their picnic table. Lilly stood the other side of it.

"Give it back to me," she ordered, holding out her hand.

"Why? Surely you don't write things in your diary that your own twin doesn't know!" James cried. "Lilly, I'm hurt."

"You'll be hurt in more then one place if you don't give that back," Lilly threatened. James chuckled and flicked to a random page in her diary.

"Merlin! You fancy Kieran?"

"James, give me that _back_!"

"Kieran! A-as in Kieran Longbottom?" James asked incredulously. Lilly climbed across the table and threw herself into James, sending the two of them crashing to the floor.

"Hey!" James cried, holding the book out of reach and keeping Lilly away with his free hand.

"Give. It. Back!"

"James, Lilly, stop it! Right now!" Harry bellowed from the kitchen window. "Get your buts in here and help me with this washing up." Lilly got up and stormed off, leaving James smiling with the diary in his hand. Putting it in his pocket so his dad wouldn't know he had it, James walked into the kitchen.

"What have you done?" Harry asked, rounding on him.

"Done? I haven't done anything!" James protested.

"So, your sister just stormed upstairs for no reason at all?"

"Err…"

"I'm waiting…"

"Well, what happened you see, was-"

"Mummy!" a voice cried out from the hallway. Harry looked round before he glared at James.

"We'll talk about this later, now finish washing up those dishes like I told you to ten minutes ago."

"Yes, dad," James sighed, walking over to the sink. Harry threw his towel on the kitchen table and opened the door to find Hermione standing in the hall being hugged by Thomas and Marcus.

"Careful, don't hurt your mother," Harry said from the doorway, walking over to pick Marcus up before leaning in to kiss Hermione.

"Ewww! Mummy and Daddy are _kissing_!" Thomas said, covering his hands with his eyes. Hermione laughed and ruffled his hair.

"Where's everyone else?" Hermione asked, referring to their other children.

"Err…the last time I saw Sirius, he was playing around with some package or another, Lucy is upstairs asleep and Lilly has probably locked herself in her room-"

"What's James done to her now?"

"I don't know, I was just about to ask when you walked in."

"I'll go and talk to her-"

"Mummy, mummy, I want to show you what I did in school today!" Marcus said, excitedly. Hermione laughed.

"Okay, then," she said as Harry lowered him to ground. "Show me what you did at school today."

----

Hermione knocked softly on Lilly's door.

"Go away!" Lilly mumbled, laying on her bed. Hermione ignored her and opened the door.

"I just came to check if you were ok," Hermione said. Lilly looked up.

"I'm fine," she said, although her tear-stained face said otherwise. Hermione went and sat on the end of her bed, rubbing her shoulder.

"What's James done now?" she asked.

"He read my diary…"

"Did he now? Did it say anything interesting?"

"Mum, you're not helping…"

"Sorry, dear." Lilly rolled over so she was laying on her back and looking at her mum.

"When did realise that you liked dad?" Lilly asked. Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"Err…I don't know, really…He's been my best friend since we started at Hogwarts, I don't really think I paid attention when my feelings towards him…changed. Why?"

"No reason…I just wanted to know…"

"Is this about Kieran?" Hermione asked.

"James _told _you?" Lilly cried.

"No, no, I figured it out on my own," Hermione replied. She waited for her daughter to calm down a bit before asking again. "Is this about Kieran?" Lilly fiddled with her fingers and Hermione thought that she wasn't going to answer.

"Yes…I-I do like him…b-but well…w-what would dad say? He'd go mental and I'd never hear the last of it from James and-"

"Okay, just calm down," Hermione soothed. "As long as you're careful, and you know what I mean by that" – Hermione fixed her with a stern look and she blushed – "I have no objections to you going out with Kieran and when I'm done with your father, neither will he." Lilly smiled.

"Talking of relationships, and what-have-you, me and your father need to talk to you and James later," Hermione said, standing up.

"About what?" Lilly asked.

"Later."


	2. Chapter 2

**Lilly – 15  
James – 15  
Sirius – 12  
Thomas – 7  
Marcus – 4  
Lucy – 1**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Two**

James sat next to Lilly on the sofa and looked between his two parents.

"Well?" Lilly asked, when no one spoke. Harry licked his lips.

"You both know how much your mum loves her job at the Ministry…" Harry started. "And you know that we've been talking about her getting a promotion-"

"You're not trying to say that we're moving house, are you?" James asked, alarmed.

"What? No, no of course not. We're not going anywhere. Look, you're mum has been offered a job, which could get her a promotion, but it means that she'll have to go out of town for a few weeks-"

"Weeks? In the summer holidays?" Lilly cried.

"That's not fair-"

"-summer is the only time that we get to see you-"

"-you _can't _go away!" The twins argued. Harry ran his hand through his hair.

"Look, you're mum's wanted this job for ages. We didn't think it would mean that she had to go out of town, but think about it. We'll be a lot better off-"

"We're fine how we are now!" Harry groaned and buried his head in his hands.

"You're being unfair. This is something she…we've wanted for ages!"

"_Us _being unfair?" James cried. "You're going away for work the one time that we get to see you. How isn't _that _unfair?" Hermione looked round at Harry.

"Look…both of you…when you're older…I'm sure you'll understand a-and there'll be things that the two of you want that you're going to have to make sacrifices for…but for now…for now you're just going to have to deal with the fact that your mum is…will be going for this job."

"Why don't we vote on it? Get everyone to…to put in votes or something?" James tried.

"We can all vote, but in the end, your mum and I will do what we think is best for the family-"

"Well what's the point in even voting then?" James cried, clearly annoyed. He stood up from the chair and stormed out of the room. When Harry went to go after him, Hermione grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back down.

"Lilly?" Hermione asked, looking at her eldest daughter.

"I…suppose I don't mind…it's not as if you're never coming back…"

"At least we have _one _supportive child," Harry mumbled.

"Shut up," Hermione hissed, slapping his arm. "Thank you, Lilly."

"That's ok mum." Hermione hugged her daughter before sending her up to bed.

"Well, that went well," Hermione said, skeptically, falling back onto the couch.

"Better than I expected," Harry replied. "I thought they'd _both _scream at us!" Hermione rolled her eyes.

"So," Harry tried. "As our second to last night before you go away, what do you say we do something interesting?"

"What's wrong with our last night?"

"You'll be busy packing."

"No I – Okay, second to last night's just as good," Hermione replied as Harry pushed her back against the sofa, laying himself on top of her.

"That's what I thought," Harry whispered in her ear.

"Although, I do think it would be a good idea to move this into the bedroom before one of them comes down and finds us."

"Hmmm…Ok then."

----

"Where _is _Dad anyway?" Lilly asked, folding another one of her mothers shirts to put in the open suitcase.

"He should be back soon. He's just at Ron's house."

"Why?"

"You're asking me?" Lilly laughed and put another shirt in the suitcase.

"Why are you talking about me?" Harry asked, peeping his head round the door.

"Talking about you?" Hermione asked. "Don't flatter yourself, Potter." Harry walked through the door and kissed Lilly's forehead, receiving a 'hello' before moving round the bed to Hermione and kissing her. The two of them fell back onto the bed, laughing before Harry kissed her again.

"Oh my god!" Lilly shrieked. "Could you at _least _wait until I'm out of the room?" Harry and Hermione looked round.

"Well, could you hurry?" he asked. Lilly held up her hands and pulled a face before darting out of the door.

"Get off, I need to pack," Hermione ordered.

"I told you that you'd be busy packing on the last night…"

----

"I'll be back in a week or two," Hermione promised, kissing Marcus for the fifth time.

"But I don't _want _you to go!" Marcus argued. Harry picked him up and kissed Hermione.

"Mum, Dad, stop, please," Sirius begged. "That is so disgusting!" Hermione rolled her eyes and ruffled his hair.

"Make sure your father _feeds _you please, Lilly," Hermione begged, pulling the portkey out of her pocket.

"I will, mum," Lilly replied.

"Good. Well, I'm off. See you all. I'll send an owl." With that, she disappeared. **(A/N - Never to be seen again! Sorry, watching some horror movie, couldn't resist)**

"What? Does she think I'm incapable of looking after you or something?" Harry mumbled. His six kids looked up at him and he smiled.

"Come on," he said. "Cheer up, the time will fly!"

"Huh!" James snorted.

"Is staying with me for a whole week _really _that bad?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," James replied, smiling for the first time. "Because unlike mum, you tell me off when I naughty. I get away with anything when she's here. I'm not going to see the sun for two weeks."

"Well, you should learn to behave yourself then."

"But that's boring, winding Lilly up is much more – ouch!" he moaned, as Lilly slapped him round the head. Harry smiled and began to walk back into the house.

"Wha- Dad, did you see that? She slapped me! D-dad? Dad!"

**A/N There _was _more to this chapter, but it seems to have disappeared and I don't remember what it says :D So you'll have to live with this I'm afraid…but don't worry, I have another 4 hours and twenty minutes before my brothers and sisters get home, so I can get another chapter up for you :D **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N - About that 4 hours and twenty minutes…a monster came and stole it :D And I was too scared to do anything about it. Then I had a sleepover…so…you know…but here it is…Sorry it's short. It was just a fill in for the next chapter...**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Three**

"So," James said, sitting down on the sofa next to his twin sister.

"So…What?" Lilly questioned. James smiled.

"If this is about Kieran-"

"Well, now that you mention it-"

"Just leave me _alone _James!" Lilly shouted, standing up. He went to follow her, when Harry grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back into the room.

"I want a word with you, young man." James frowned and went over all the things he'd done in the last week, thinking of different ways to blame each of them on Lilly. Unless this was about her diary. Then he was buggered.

"Right, now, I would assume that if a girl kept a diary" – bugger – "then she wouldn't let anyone else see it. Especially not her twin brother. So do you mind telling me what this was doing in your jeans pocket?" Harry asked, holding up the book. James bit his lip.

"I'm waiting…"

"She err…we were just…I-I…"

"Right. You're grounded for the next week, which means that you stay in the house and the only time you leave it is when the rest of us our going out. Now, go and give this back to your sister and say _sorry_."

"Yes, dad…" James mumbled. He considered not giving it back, but then Harry was likely to ask Lilly about it and then he'd be in even more trouble. So, that's how, five minutes later, he found himself outside Lilly's door.

"What?" Lilly snapped, yanking it open. James smiled.

"I'm here about a certain diary…"

"Unless you've come to give it back-"

"Actually, that's _exactly _what I'm doing-"

"What have you done to it?" Lilly asked.

"What would make you think I'd done something to it?"

"James, this is _you _we're talking about here…"

"Your point?"

"James. Who gave me back my potions book with a spell cast on it that made me grow rabbit ears?" Lilly asked, sceptically. James thought back and smiled.

"Well…_technically _it was Lucas's fault because he cast it-"

"Don't you 'technically' me, James Andrew Potter. Now, give it back or leave." James rolled his eyes and pulled the diary out of his jeans pocket, slamming it down on Lilly's hand.

"There. I haven't done anything. I haven't read all of it, and I'm _sorry_."

"You don't know the meaning of the word," Lilly retorted.

"Well, girls like it when I apologise, so that's good enough for me-"

"_I _don't like it-"

"You're my sister, I'd hope you didn't," James mumbled as the door was slammed into his face. Unable to think of anything else to do, James knocked of Sirius's door.

"Who is it?" a voice called.

"James."

"Oh, come in." James carefully opened the door, expecting something to explode in his face. When it didn't he opened it fully and looked around the room. Sirius was sitting on the floor with a box.

"What you got there?" James asked, seating himself on the end of the bed.

"Fred and George just left-"

"What?"

"Apparated."

"Oh…What is it?"

"It's just a box of some of their new inventions, look at these," Sirius said, picking up a smaller box. He pushed James along the bed and sat next to him, opened the box and pulled out a ring.

"What does it do?" James asked, curiously, twisting it round in his hand.

"Makes you invisible for ten minutes. Fred and George are trying to make it last longer, but they can't without it being dangerous," Sirius explained.

"It's not dangerous _now_, is it?"

"No. Do you want it?"

"Are you sure?"

"I have more of them, and lots of other stuff." Sirius jumped off the bed again and pulled something else out of the box.

"I want to use this," Sirius said excitedly.

"What is it?" James asked.

"Fireworks-"

"Like the ones that dad told us about in his fifth year-"

"But these are more improved. You can tell it what shape you want it to be and everything. How cool is that?"

"It's a shame Lucy's birthday just went…we could have used it then."

"Well, when mum gets back, we can use it," Sirius suggested, putting it carefully back into the box before looking up at James again. "Are your friends still coming over tomorrow?"

"Yes, why?"

"I just wanted to know whether I should hide all this stuff. It's for family only…"

"Doesn't matter, we won't come in here."

"Okay then."

"Boys, dinner's ready!" Harry called from the bottom of the stairs.


	4. Chapter 4

**My aunty spells Lilly (her name) with two 'l's. I know everyone spells it with one…but I don't :P **

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Four**

James rushed down the stairs and yanked open the door. Kieran (Neville and Luna's son – 15), Samuel (Bill and Fleur's son – 16) and Josh (some random boy – 15) stood on the doorstep.

"Hey guys, come in, Lilly's just putting on a DVD. Anyone want to watch?" James asked. The three teenage boys stepped through the door into the house and Samuel looked confused.

"A…what?"

"DVD. It's a film…never mind, you'll see," Kieran tried, taking off his trainers. James led them into the living room, where the DVD had already started, or at least the adverts for other films had. Lilly looked round as they entered, looked at Kieran and then shot James a look. He smiled and looked sideways at Kieran too.

The other boys were oblivious to the exchange and quickly jumped onto the sofa.

"Hi everyone," Lilly greeted before turning back to the screen.

"Hey Lilly," they all chorused. James flopped down on the sofa, purposefully, leaving Kieran standing up.

"Spare space next to Lilly," James pointed, trying not to laugh at the look Lilly sent him that clearly said 'I hate you'. Kieran looked round, frowned and then sat next to her. Five minutes into the film, Lilly climbed off the sofa.

"Anyone want popcorn?" she asked. James, Samuel and Josh nodded without looking round, but Kieran stood up.

"I'll give you a hand," he offered, then in a more quiet voice added, "this film's already boring." Lilly smiled uneasily and James was biting his lip. The two of them walked into the kitchen.

"What the hell is that film, anyway?" Kieran asked, leaning on the doorframe.

"Mission Impossible, load of crap, don't you think?" Lilly replied, opening a cupboard door above her head.

"Yes. Why, in Merlin's name, did you put it on?"

"Because James wanted me to." Lilly stood on her tiptoes and reached for the popcorn, which she came a couple of inches short of.

"Here, I'll get it," Kieran offered, walking forward to stand behind her. He reached up to get it, came a few inches short, changed his mind, stepped forward slightly so that he was pinning Lilly to the counter, and rested a hand on it. Lilly drew in a deep breath that she didn't let out until Kieran had the three bags of popcorn down and was moving away.

"There you go," he said, smiling. "Toffee, Plain and Salty, yum."

"I prefer the Toffee one, myself," Lilly replied, trying to start up a conversation.

"Me too." Lilly bent down and pulled three big bowls out of the cupboard, tipping a different type of popcorn into each one and then putting the bag on top so they would know which was which.

"Where are your parents?" Kieran asked, looking out into the garden.

"My dad's taken Sirius, Thomas, Marcus and Lucy to the Weasley's and my mum's away on some business trip."

"When will your dad be back?"

"About an hour or so. Why?"

"Just wondering how long we have the house to ourselves. You sleeping with us in the tent tonight?"

"I might, if James lets me. Do you want me to?" Lilly asked, smiling.

"Maybe," Kieran replied. "Far less boring if you're there."

"Oh, is it now?"

"Yes, it is." James popped his head round the door.

"I thought you were getting popcorn."

"Oh yeah, right…err…we're just coming," Lilly said, grabbing two of the bowls off the counter, leaving Kieran the toffee one. She shoved a bowl into James' hands as she walked past him and put the other one down on the table in front of the other two. Kieran sat next to her on the sofa and held out the bowl for her to take. It amazed everyone that Kieran was hardly anything like either of his parents. He wasn't…weird like Luna and he was top of the class in most subjects, especially Herbology (one of the few things he inherited off his father.)

"Here, Lilly, give us some popcorn," Kieran whispered, making her jump. She held out the bowl and watched as he took a handful, taking one at a time and throwing it in the air to land in his mouth. She laughed quietly.

"How'd you do that?" she whispered, back.

"Lucky shots I think. Doesn't usually work-"

"Can you two love birds shut up? We're trying to watch this," James snapped from the sofa. Lilly turned bright red and Kieran blushed a bit too.

"Well, it's crap, I'm going outside," Lilly announced, standing up.

"O! I'll come with!" Kieran cried, jumping up too. Lilly blushed, but let Kieran follow her from the living room to the garden. The tent sat in the middle of the garden.

"We'll have fun in there," Kieran mumbled. Lilly smiled and sat down on their swing. Kieran stood behind her and pushed it slightly.

"How much longer is that film going to be on?" Kieran asked.

"Probably nearly finished, actually," Lilly replied.

"They'll be out here soon then."

"Yeah."

"Oh well…"

"Why do you come round here if you're not going to sit with them lot?" Lilly asked.

"Maybe I don't come to hang out with them lot," Kieran replied, stopping the swing by putting his hands over Lilly's and holding it back. Her breath caught in her throat and she turned in the swing to face him.

"What?" Lilly whispered.

"Maybe I don't come here to see them," Kieran repeated. "Maybe I come here to see you."

"Lilly, Dad's back, we're going to the park. Are you two…" James's voice trailed off when he saw them. Lilly yanked her hands away from Kieran's and jumped off the swing.

"Yes, we're coming, let me just…go and get my shoes on." Lilly rushed into the house and James followed her progress across the garden to the door before he turned to look at Kieran who was staring back at him.

"I…I was just…we were only talking James," Kieran tried, rubbing the back of his neck. He knew the two of them argued with each other, but he also knew how protective James was of Lilly. James stared at him for a few moments before smiling and winking at him. Kieran was so shocked that he stood rooted to the spot.

"Are you coming or not?" Samuel called to him from the door.

"Err…yeah, I'm coming."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N – Someone asked me what Harry and Hermione did for work. Hermione has a job at the Ministry, but I'm not sure yet what she does :P. Harry is a teacher at Hogwarts, which is why he's at home now (during the summer holidays).**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Five**

Sirius walked along beside James and John, talking about some product or another from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Kieran was moping along behind the rest of them and Lilly walked in front trying to stay as far away from him as possible. She was the first one to turn into the park and sit on the bench. Sirius darted off with the other boys to the climbing frame.

"Boys are so childish," Lilly muttered.

"Hey, I resent that," a voice said behind her. She jumped and spun round. Kieran stood there, smiling at her.

"Hey," she mumbled, turning back round. Kieran jumped over the back of the bench and sat beside her.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to upset you." Lilly smiled and looked round at him.

"You didn't upset me."

"I didn't?"

"No."

"That's good," Kieran said, returning her smile. "Why…why don't we go and join in?" Lilly looked round at the other boys playing on the frame and then back at Kieran who was now standing up. He held out his hand and she laughed before taking it and being led off. Sirius tackled Kieran as soon as he got near enough, but didn't have nearly enough strength to get the 15 year old to the ground. Kieran staggered though and after he managed to get his balance, grabbed Sirius and proceeded to get _him _to the ground.

"Pick on someone your own size," Josh joked, standing opposite Kieran. Lilly rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Let's play some basketball," Josh said, spying a basketball court at the other end of the field. The others agreed and the six of them left to play, grabbing a basketball on the way.

"Three on three?" James asked, looking round at them all.

"But I'm small. That's not fair!" Sirius cried.

"So? You can have a piggyback while we play." Sirius grinned.

"That makes the teams uneven," Samuel pointed out.

"Then Lilly can have a piggyback too," James replied.

"Excuse me! Who said I _wanted _to play?" Lilly cried.

"Me. You're playing. End of discussion."

"Yeah, but-"

"Right. Lilly and Sirius can be captain's as they're the ones getting piggybacks. Numbers one to four," James ordered. He waited until they were done before continuing.

"Sirius, you can go first."

"Four." James smiled and stepped up beside his brother.

"Two?" Lilly chose, twirling her hair round her finger and smiling when Samuel stepped forward.

"I'll have number…one." Lilly held her breath and nearly died when Josh stepped forward to stand beside James and Sirius.

"That leaves you Kieran," James announced, doing his best to keep a straight face. "Samuel hurt his back, he can't give you a piggyback." Lilly closed her eyes and groaned. She knew James wasn't lying because she had been there when Samuel had hurt himself. She turned to Kieran, who looked equally as embarrassed.

"Right then, on you get." Lilly stood behind him and let him lift her onto his back, before grabbing the basketball that was thrown to her.

"You can start," James said, smiling at her. She glared at him before throwing the ball to Samuel.

All in all, it wasn't a bad game, even if Lilly did have to stay on Kieran's back for most of it. They had nearly fallen over at one point and everyone had a laugh at that. It was Sirius who stopped the game.

"Can I have some sweets?" James let him down onto the floor and looked around.

"Corner shop over there. Let's go. Did you bring any money Lilly?" he asked, hopefully.

"No," she snapped. James held up his hands in defeat and walked off towards the shop. Kieran let Lilly down and waited for her to straighten up her clothes before following everyone else.

"So, how hard do you recon it'll be for you to convince James to let you sleep in the tent in the garden with us tonight?" he asked.

"Not that hard," Lilly mumbled, looking down at the ground as she walked. Kieran put an arm round her shoulders and her head instantly snapped up.

"Look, you've been upset since earlier in your garden on the swing. I didn't mean to upset you, alright?" Lilly nodded and looked away from him again.

As they came up to the shop, Lilly caught sight of the sign.

"Five of us only," Lilly said, pointing at it. "I'll wait outside."

"You sure?" James asked, looking up and down the street. "Not a very nice place to hang around on your own."

"I'll be fine." He thought about it for a moment before shrugging and stepping through the door. Lilly leant back against the wall and closed her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief.

_Honestly, _she thought, banging her head against the wall. _I've wanted him to ask me out for ages and now I'm moping around like an idiot. _She hit her head on the wall again.

"Hello, pretty," a voice whispered in her ear. She jumped and her eyes flickered open. Two teenage boys stood either side of her. She guessed they were about eighteen and mentally slapped herself for not hearing them sneaking up on her.

"I have to go," she said, quickly, moving away from the wall. One of them grabbed her arm and held her back.

"What's the rush?" he asked.

"I'm meeting someone," Lilly lied, trying to free her arm, with little success.

"Where are you meeting them?" the other guy asked.

"It's none of your business."

"Why don't you come with us and we can give you a lift-"

"What, do I look stupid or something?" Lilly snapped, glaring at the blond haired boy on her right, who still had a tight grip on her arm.

"Well, well. I like 'em feisty," the other boy said, smiling and running his hand up her arm. Lilly's eyes flashed to the shop window. The boys were all at the counter and had their backs to her.

"Get off of me," Lilly ordered, trying to pull her arm away. She quickly looked up and down the street, only to find out that there wasn't another living soul in sight. The boy who wasn't holding her arm, stepped up behind her and placed both hands on her hips and leaned closer to her ear.

"You're going to come with us, and if you make a sound you'll regret it," he hissed. Lilly's eyes flashed to the shop window again and a wave of panic spread over her. The boy behind her put his hand over her mouth and wrapped the other one round her waist, lifting her off the ground. She kicked and screamed into his hand, but he didn't so much as flinch. If only she had her wand with her. The other guy pushed open a gate to an alleyway and held it open as Lilly was carried through. The hand covering her mouth was removed long enough for her to shout out "James" but then it was covered again. Tears started streaming down her face as she realised that there was no way she was going to get away. They turned down another alleyway and the boys slammed her against the wall, pinning her there with her arms by her side.

"Let me go!" she shouted, struggling. The boy pinning her there laughed.

"Oh we'll let you go. When you're finished with you," the blond haired boy said, smiling.

"Now," the one pinning her against the wall said. "I told you that if you made a sound you'd regret it-"

"Just like you will if you touch my sister again," a voice threatened. Lilly's head snapped round to find all the boys standing there.

"Well, well," the blond haired boy sneered. "What do we have here?"

"Let my sister go, now," James ordered.

"Oh, and…what'll you do if I don't?"

"You don't want to know, mate, trust me." The boy pinning Lilly to wall smiled, turned his head round and pressed his lips to hers. Lilly tried her best to pull away, and when that didn't work she turned her head, so that he was kissing her cheek. James lost it at that point and charged forward. Kieran was the next one to hit the blond haired guy with a punch in the mouth that sent him flying to the ground. Lilly took her chance and kneed the one in front of her in a not so pleasant place. Samuel and Josh surged forward to help, grabbing the guy who was getting up off the floor and pinning him back down again. Kieran grabbed the guy who had kissed her and punched him in the stomach as hard as he could and James finished him off by pushing him head first into the wall.

"Let's get out of here," he said, pushing Lilly ahead of him. Kieran grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him.

"Are you alright?" he asked, rubbing her back.

"I'm fine."

"They didn't do anything to you, did they?"

"No."

"How I wish I could use magic outside of Hogwarts. Maybe we should find some dementors and give the stupid muggles to them," Kieran muttered. Lilly smiled and kissed his cheek.

"Thanks Kieran." He blushed and touched his fingers to his cheek, smiling.

"You're welcome," he replied. "Anytime you want me to beat up some stupid boys, I'll be there."

"So…he gets all the thanks and I get none?" James said, raising an eyebrow at her. She shook her head and laughed.

"Well, thank you, but I assume you don't want a kiss on the cheek?"

"No, I'm good thanks."

"That's what I thought."

"Let's get home. Dad'll have a fit when we tell him what just happened."


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Six**

'Having a fit' was a slight understatement to the way Harry reacted when they told him what had happened. He went absolutely mental. James and Lilly managed to calm him down…eventually.

"What?" Hermione cried, sitting down on the bed in her hotel room. Harry explained what had happened again.

"I want to speak to Lilly, now," Hermione snapped. Harry handed over the phone to his eldest daughter.

"Hi, Mum," Lilly said.

"What happened?" Hermione demanded.

"Nothing. We were just at the shop. James a-and Kieran stopped them from well…yeah…"

"Kieran?" Hermione asked, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Yes," Lilly replied through gritted teeth. "Why?"

"I was just…wondering. Are you sure you're ok?" he voice took on a serious tone again.

"I'm fine, Mum."

"Well look after yourself. Can I speak to your dad again please?" Lilly handed the phone back to Harry and then walked off to the garden where the boys were lobbing a quaffle at each other. She threw herself on the ground beside Kieran.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Urg! Stop asking me that question. I'm fine!" Lilly snapped, then instantly regretted it. "Sorry."

"S'alright." He threw the quaffle at Samuel. They played for a few minutes before James stood up.

"I'm going to get the tent ready," James said. "Give us a hand."

--------

"Oh yeah, I'd definitely go out with her," Josh said, smiling. Lilly snorted from her compartment of the tent, trying to concentrate on her book with little success.

"What?" James cried. "We're teenage boys, what do you want us to talk about?"

"I don't even want to _know _what teenage boys talk about!"

"Why? I'm sure you're listening in for tips-"

"James, shut up!" Lilly blushed and buried her head in her book again. The boys continued their conversation, but Lilly felt someone kneel over her waist. She looked over the book to find Kieran staring at her.

"What you reading?" he asked. Lilly showed him the front cover of the book.

"Is it any good?"

"It's alright," Lilly replied, looking back down at the words on the page, but not really concentrating.

"Mind if I read with you?" Lilly shook her head and Kieran moved from straddling her waist to laying beside her. He moved a little closer to her so that he could wrap his arm around her waist and without even thinking, she snuggled up to his chest. Kieran leant back onto the pile of pillows behind them and rested his chin on Lilly's head.

"Why doesn't he just tell her he likes her?" Kieran asked after a few moments of reading.

"Because girls like it when boys put in a bit of an effort," Lilly replied. She spied James out of the corner of her eye smiling at her but resisted the urge to throw something at him. After about twenty minutes, Kieran realized that Lilly had fallen asleep. James, Samuel and Josh had fallen asleep ten minutes before and he considered moving, but didn't want to wake her up. In the end, he threw a blanket over them, switched off the torch, got comfortable and closed his eyes.

--------

"Shhh…she's waking up," James hissed, slapping Josh round the head. He put the camera up to his eye again, smiled and snapped the photo. He cringed when the flash went off and then bit his lip when Lilly stirred.

"What was that?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes. James held back a laugh when she stopped dead, realizing that someone had their arm wrapped around her waist.

"I'll give you some privacy," James whispered, zipping up her compartment of the tent. Lilly glared at him. As soon as he was out of view, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and rolled round to face Kieran. She expected him to be asleep, so when she turned round to find him awake, it scared her half to death.

"Morning," he mumbled, yawning.

"Morning," Lilly replied, quietly. She looked down at his arm and he quickly removed it and pushed himself up to lean on his elbow.

"I should err…get up and get dressed," Lilly mumbled.

--------

"Daaaaaaad!" Lilly shouted from the front room, grabbing her brothers arm. Josh and Samuel were sitting on the sofa, looking highly amused. Kieran was just as pissed off as Lilly.

"Give. It. To. Me!" Lilly hissed, jumping up for the picture again.

"You can have it. I have more. You know, I'll think I'll put that picture on the Christmas cards this year-"

"DAD!"

"What?" Harry asked, rushing into the room. Lilly suddenly realized that she shouldn't have called him and stopped trying to get the picture.

"What have you done to her now?" Harry demanded, looking at James.

"She wants this," James replied, waving the picture in the air.

"What is it?"

"It's-"

"Nothing!" Lilly interrupted. "It's nothing." Harry held out his hand for the picture and James held Lilly back before handing the picture to him. Lilly closed her eyes and held her breath. Kieran looked between her and Harry and moved back.

"When was this?" Harry demanded. Lilly opened her eyes, not even bothering to try and get James's arm from round her waist.

"This morning," Lilly whispered, mortified. "Dad, we were just reading and we fell asleep…I _swear_." Harry's eyes flickered from Lilly to Kieran and back again.

"I think I'll put it on the Christmas cards," Harry said, finally. Lilly's mouth dropped open and James burst out laughing.

"You guys are _not _funny!" Lilly shouted, pushing James's arm away and stalking out of the room.

"Lilly, I was just joking," Harry tried, throwing his arms into the air when she didn't come back.

Lilly sat on the grass in the garden and plucked a flower from the flowerbed, twirling it round between her thumb and forefinger.

"You alright?" a voice whispered in her ear. She looked around and shrugged when she saw Kieran standing there.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm as embarrassed as you are," Kieran tried. Lilly half smiled. He sat beside her and picked another flower from the flower bed.

"I love these flowers," Lilly said. "There're so beautiful."

"So are you," Kieran blurted out, then turned bright red when he realized what he said. Lilly looked at him and smiled.

"Are you _flirting _with me Kieran Longbottom?"

"That depends. Are you gonna hit me if I say yes?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Then yes, I'm flirting with you." He looked at her for a moment, studying her face. "I love your hair, you know," he said, suddenly. He reached out and twirled a strand of her hair round his finger. Lilly lifted up her hand and ran it through Kieran's dirty blond hair.

"I like your hair too," she said. Kieran moved his head forward, cautiously, intending to kiss her properly. Being Neville's son though, he chickened out at the last moment and kissed the corner of her mouth. Lilly took her hand out of his hair and stood up, dropping her flower on the floor. Kieran jumped up, grabbing her arm.

"Wait," he pleaded. "Lilly…would…would you like to go to the cinema with me tonight?" She turned round to look at him.

"Seriously?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. Kieran nodded.

"Alright then."

"Great! I'll go home and get changed and I'll be back here for seven thirty. Okay?" Lilly nodded, smiling. Kieran kissed her cheek and ran through the house, grabbing his coat on the way.

"Where are you off to?" James asked, poking his head through the living room door.

"_I _have a date," Kieran replied, smiling. He opened the front door, slipped through, slammed it shut and ran off full pelt down the road.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Seven**

James threw himself on the sofa beside Lilly and crossed his arms.

"Problem?" she asked, smiling.

"Course not," James mumbled. Harry walked into the room and looked at the two of them on the sofa, his eyes lingering a little longer on Lilly. She was wearing a light blue top and (unusual for her) a knee length skirt. She flicked the channel on the television before turning to her dad.

"I'll be fine, dad, honestly. It's Kieran, you trust Kieran," she said.

"Hmmm…" Harry replied. "You're _mother _trusts him, anyway. She thinks it's excellent that you're going on a…a err…"

"Date," Lilly offered, smiling.

"Right, right." The doorbell rung and Harry turned round to open the door. Kieran stood on the door step, rocking back and forth on his heels.

"Hello, is Lilly there?" he asked, smiling up at Harry.

"Lilly, it's Kieran." James jumped up from the chair before Lilly even had a chance to move and ran to the door.

"Right, as the brother of your date I'm entitled to give you a warning," James said. Kieran raised an eyebrow.

"You're not entitled to give him anything," Lilly interrupted, just a James opened his mouth to continue.

"Yes I am. Do anything to her, and friend or not I'll smack you one." Kieran smiled.

"She'll be fine and if it makes you feel any better she'll be home by half past nine. Half past ten if she wants to go for something to eat afterwards," he replied. Lilly grabbed her coat and stepped out the door.

"I'll see you later," she said, closing the door behind her. Kieran held out his hand and she took it, smiling.

"So, what do you want to go and see?"

--------

"Pirates of the Caribbean?" Kieran asked, looking up at the now showing screen. Lilly smiled.

"Yeah, I can look at Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom the whole way through."

"I'm starting to get jealous, you looking at all these blokes," Kieran huffed, getting out his money to buy the tickets.

"Don't worry. They're a bit out of my league, you'll have to do," she joked.

"Careful, Lilly Potter, I'm paying for your popcorn."

--------

Lilly jumped again as the Kraken attacked the ship. Kieran chuckled and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer.

"Scary?"

"Hush, I want to see if it kills them." Kieran smiled and looked back at the screen smiling to himself as the kraken attacked the ship again and Lilly jumped. By the time the Kraken had 'gone back to the depths' Lilly may as well have been sitting on Kieran's lap. He wrapped his other arm round her waist and let her rest her back against him.

(**A/N – Don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but this next bit is what happens on the Black Pearl right at the end. You'll know what Lilly's on about if you've seen it!) **

"I can't believe they did that to Jack!" Lilly cried as they walked down the road away from the cinema. Kieran put his arm round her shoulders.

"You did actually watch the film and not drool over Jack and Will the whole way through then?" he joked. Lilly slapped his chest.

"And you weren't drooling over Elizabeth the whole way through?"

"Oh no, no, you had my undivided attention throughout."

"I'm sure." Kieran smiled and stopped under a bus stop shelter, taking the only chair. Lilly raised her eyebrows.

"You want the chair?" Kieran asked, making to stand up. Lilly shook her head and pushed him back down before sitting on his knee.

"So, where do you want to go now? Home, or for something to eat?"

"Something to eat," Lilly replied after a moment of thought. Kieran smiled.

"Great, I'm starving!"

The two of them decided to go to a small café not too far from the cinema. It wasn't that crowded, but it was fairly noisy as the music seemed to be on full blast. Most of the cafés customers seemed to be enjoying themselves on the dance floor.

"Can I take your order?" a waitress asked.

"Err…yeah, we'll both have spaghetti bolognaise, please," Kieran replied. "And a coke each." Their menu's where taken from them and the woman disappeared.

"Lets dance," Kieran said, suddenly, dragging Lilly from her chair into to middle of the dance floor. He spun her round and then wrapped his arms round her from behind, swaying slowly to the music.

"Now, all those times you told me that you couldn't dance," Kieran said, resting his chin on her shoulder. "What a load of crap." Lilly smiled.

"Well…compared to you I can't dance-"

"I'm no expert-"

"You're far better at dancing than anyone else I know."

"When have you seen me dance?"

"Plenty of times. Next year will be the Triwizard Tournament, unfortunately it won't be held at Hogwarts, but as the age restriction is now sixteen, maybe we'll get chosen to go to Durmstrang, then you can show me how to dance." Kieran smiled and spun Lilly out.

"How about I teach you to dance now?" he asked, still smiling. Lilly raised her eyebrows.

"If you want to," she replied. Kieran nodded and pulled her closer, putting his hand on her waist and telling her to rest hers on his shoulder.

"And then you step forward, side, backwards, side. One, two, three, one, two, three…" Lilly smiled as she got into it and laughed as Kieran twirled her round, grabbing his arm to stop him.

"What?" he asked when she did.

"You're making me dizzy." Kieran smiled and kissed her forehead.

--------

The two of them walked hand in hand down the road towards Lilly's house.

"So," he said. "Have you had a good time?"

"Of course I have," Lilly replied, looking round at him.

"That's good, and you'd like to do it again, yes?"

"Definitely."

"That's good too," Kieran said, smiling. He pulled a rose from a bush as they walked past and stopped Lilly, holding it out to her. "Lilly Potter, will you be my girlfriend?" she smiled and took the rose from him as he gave it to her.

"Yes," she replied, kissing his cheek. Kieran smiled too and held open the gate for her, walking her right up to the front door.

"I'll call you tomorrow or something," Kieran said as she turned to face him.

"Yeah," Lilly replied, still twirling the rose round between her fingers. The two of them stood there for a moment before Kieran stepped forward and kissed her cheek.

"Goodnight." He turned to leave and Lilly stood there for a few seconds.

"Kieran?"

"Yea-" Whatever else he was about to say was cut off as Lilly pressed her lips to his. He awkwardly stepped back up to stairs and wrapped his arms round her waist, pulling her closer as she wrapped hers round his neck. As the need for oxygen became a necessity, both teenagers pulled away, smiling.

"Goodnight," Lilly whispered, pecking him on the lips. Kieran smiled and waited until she was through the door before punching the air and running off down the road. Lilly closed the door and then leant back against it, grinning. She heard voices coming from the living room and kicked off her shoes before walking into the room. Harry and James sat on the sofa, watching a film that Lilly didn't recognize. She smiled and plopped herself on the chair next to James. He looked round at her, taking in the grin on her face.

"Good time?" Harry asked.

"Brilliant," Lilly replied.

"You going out with him again?" James questioned, smiling.

"What's it to you?"

"Have you kissed him yet?" Lilly blushed and looked away from her brother who instantly knew the answer to be yes.

"Was it at the beginning or the end of your date?" James continued. Lilly turned an even brighter shade of red than she had been before and glared at him.

"I'm taking a wild guess and saying it was at the end. I have a new purpose in life. More then one picture should make a nice Christmas card-"

"James, if you dare do anything-"

"Stop winding her up, James. I'm glad you had a good time. Now, both of you, it's time for bed," Harry interrupted. James rolled his eyes and the both of them climbed up from the sofa. James followed Lilly up the stairs resisting the urge to say something. Lilly turned to face him as she came to her bedroom door.

"I swear James, if you do anything to muck this up-"

"Yes, yes, I know. I won't muck it up. I just want a picture of the two of you kissing so I can stick it up in Gryffindor Common Room when we go back. Is that too much to ask?" Lilly glared at him for a few moments before smiling.

"You're just jealous-"

"Jealous! Jealous of what? You and Kieran?"

"You're jealous because _I _have a boyfriend and you don't have a girlfriend," Lilly replied. James stayed quiet and Lilly laughed quietly.

"I knew it." With her last word said, Lilly disappeared into her room. James kicked the wall and walked off to his own room.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N – Someone asked what the children looked like. I don't remember who it was. I imagine Lilly with Hermione's hair and Harry's eyes and then James the other way round. Then Sirius has dark brown hair and green eyes and he's the one that needs glasses, though he doesn't always wear them. Then Thomas always wears glasses and has Harry's hair and eyes. Lucy's a baby, I haven't decided what she looks like. **

**Enjoy…**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Eight**

The next morning, James sat in his room laying on his bed and staring at the ceiling, thinking of a way to get a picture of Lilly and Kieran. If you wanted the end result, you had to have a plan to get it. He sighed for the umpteenth time and rolled onto his side.

_12:50 _

"Jeeeesus…" James breath, sitting up and ruffling up his hair. He'd been laying there for two and half hours. He opened the door to his bedroom, still only wearing his boxers and walked down the hallway. By the time he got into the kitchen everyone was already there, eating lunch.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Harry said, smiling.

"Urg! James, put something decent on," Lilly said, looking away.

"Why? Am I not as good looking as Kieran?"

"James, you're my _brother_," Lilly replied, scowling.

"You didn't answer my question," James pointed out. Lilly looked down at her bowl and kept silent. James smiled and ignoring her, sat at the table beside her, then just to annoy her, wrapped an arm round her shoulder. She shrugged him off and when she was sure Harry wasn't looking, hit him. James' response was to smile and grab the cereal that was in the middle of the table. Thomas and Marcus were sitting on the floor playing a game of exploding snap and Harry was holding Lucy while talking on the phone. Sirius was sitting in front of James, scribbling on a piece of paper. James grabbed a spare spoon and the milk. He looked up as Sirius got up from the table. His twelve year old brother shoved something into his hand as he walked past and James caught a glimpse of his smirk before he disappeared. James quickly flattened out the paper and let his eyes skim over it.

_Bet you were awake all morning trying to think of a way to get a picture of Lilly and Kieran kissing. _

_I have a plan. _

_If you're interested, I'll be in my room after breakfast. _

_Don't forget to knock!_

James smiled. Trust Sirius to come up with something.

"What's that?" Lilly asked, trying to look at the note. James screwed it up.

"Err…boy stuff," he replied, quickly. Lilly looked at him suspiciously but didn't question him further.

--------

Ten minutes later, James knocked on his brothers door.

"Come in!" Sirius called. James carefully opened the door as he always did when he was walking into his brothers room and spotted Sirius on the floor beside his bed. He had a box in front of him and was twirling something around in his hand.

"You said you had a plan?" James asked, curiously. Sirius grinned.

"Of course I do. This is me we're talking about here."

"Come on then, what is it?" Sirius quickly explained what they would have to do and when he was finished James slapped a hand to his forehead.

"I can't believe I forgot about that. It's so simple."

"I know, I'm brilliant," Sirius replied, smiling. James suddenly looked confused.

"How did you know he was coming over to study with her?" Sirius' reply was to smirk at his older brother.

"A magician _never _reveals his secrets."

--------

Lilly opened the door to find Kieran there, a bag slung over his shoulder.

"Hi, Lil." He leaned forward and kissed her cheek before stepping through the door. As he did every time that he came over, he took his shoes off and put them beside the door.

"Come on, we can study in my room," Lilly said, taking his hand and pulling him up the stairs.

They spent the next ten minutes helping each other with their transfiguration homework and stopped when a knock came at the door.

"Come in," Lilly called, laying her book down. Sirius, not even bothering to peer round the door like he usually did, opened it wide as if letting someone in.

"What do you want?"

"I wanted to show you something, James is helping dad to cook dinner." Lilly went to tell him to get lost, but Kieran got there first.

"Is it something from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes?"

"Yep."

"Cool! Show us." Lilly glared at him and he just shrugged. Sirius bounded in and jumped on the bed, leaving the door open.

"Now, what did you want to show us?" Kieran asked, eagerly.

"You both have to close your eyes." The two teenagers looked at each other uncertainly, but did as they were told.

"Now, hold each others hand." Lilly reached blindly for Kieran's hand. Sirius smiled and pulled out a box from his pocket. Taking off the lid, he revealed a pinkish colored dust. He took at pinch of it and sprinkled it over the two. Lilly sneezed.

"What was that?" she asked, opening her eyes. Sirius was sitting in front of them grinning from ear to ear with a box in his hand.

"Do I even want to know what that is?" she asked. Sirius looked down at it and put the lid on.

"Probably not." With that, he jumped off the bed. Lilly did too.

"What did you just do?" she asked, uncertainly. Sirius ignored her and continued to the door. She chased him to it, both of them stopped and Sirius glanced around the room as if looking for something and then walked off.

"Sirius!" Lilly shouted out the door. When she got no reply she slammed the door shut angrily.

"Stupid, little-" she stopped dead as she turned round and found Kieran standing right behind her. She was about to ask him what he was doing when his lips crashed onto hers. She snaked her hands up to wrap them around his neck and he pinned her against the door, putting a hand either side of her waist.

James smiled from his spot by the wall and held the camera up to his eye. The ring on his finger glistening in the light but he knew that he was the only one who could see it, the camera and him. Invisible rings, brilliant.

Lilly moaned softly into Kieran's mouth as his hands snaked under the bottom of her top.

"Kieran," she whispered as he pulled away. "Maybe we should…should do some studying." Kieran's hands retreated and he stepped back, rubbing his forehead.

"Sorry, don't know what came over me there," he apologized. James smiled again from his corner and put the camera by his side. Now the only problem that he faced was getting out of the room unseen in the next five minutes. He just had to sit and wait for Sirius to come back and knock on the door again.

With ten seconds left, James began to panic. Then the knock came and without even waiting for Lilly to tell him that he could come in, Sirius burst into the room. Lilly and Kieran jumped and she glared at him. James couldn't get out the door with Sirius in the way and closed his eyes as he felt the effects of the ring wearing out. Lilly gaped at the two boys in the doorway and her eyes flickered down to look at the camera in James' hand. Without a word, she jumped up from the bed.

"Run!" James shouted, shoving Sirius out the door. Lilly darted out after them, following them down the stairs and through the kitchen into the garden. Kieran wasn't far behind.

"James!" Lilly cried. "Give it to me _now_!"

"Are you mad? After all I went through to get it and you think I'll just hand it over. Fat chance!" Lilly managed to grab his shirt and held on tight so he couldn't get away. Instead of trying to, James held out the camera to Sirius and pointed to the tree in their garden. Sirius got the hint, put the string from the camera round his neck and scrambled into the tree. Lilly growled in frustration and slapped James' arm.

"You are the most annoying brother in the world!"

"Thank you," James replied, smirking. Lilly glared at the two of them one last time before turning round and walking straight in to Kieran. James smiled at him over the top of her head and Kieran rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Lil, lets go and study."

"Fine," she mumbled into his chest, letting him lead her through the door. James turned to help Sirius out of the tree and the two of them laughed.

"It worked!"

"Told you it would."

"Lilly is so screwed." James hi-fived him and thanked him once more before taking the camera and rushing into the house.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Nine**

Kieran, James, Samuel and Josh were sitting in a tree in the park round the corner from James' house. They were _meant _to be studying, but as teenage boys they got a little side-tracked.

"Do you recon any of them would actually go out with us?" Samuel asked. "We're not exactly…"

"James could get one of them to go out with him," Josh interjected "James can get _anyone _to go out with him." James smirked.

"They're always in groups though, why can't they just…go out alone. We do."

"We're guys. It's different," James replied. "Merlin, look at the one over there." Josh and Samuel turned their heads to look in the direction of James' finger.

"Yeah…she has three friends too," Josh replied.

"Come on, Kieran, any input from you?" James questioned. Kieran looked up from the book he was reading.

"I refuse to be a part of this conversation. In case you'd forgotten, I'm going out with Lilly. Looking at other girls is classified as cheating on her." James rolled his eyes.

"Lets go and say 'hi'," Samuel suggested, preparing to leap from the tree. James smiled and followed him down. Josh went too and not wanting to stay there on his own, Kieran closed his book and dropped from the tree. The other three were already a way ahead and he jogged to catch up with them. One of the girls turned to look at them and James decided to change his tact.

"Lets sit here and let them come over to us," he suggested, sitting on the grass. The others did the same and Kieran opened his book again.

"Excuse me?" one of the girls asked, standing behind him. Her friend was behind her, looking at the four of them. James turned round.

"Hiya." The girl smiled instantly.

"My friends and I were wondering if you wanted to come and sit with us. We were just about to get some ice-cream."

"Sure, we'd love to sit with you." The four boys stood up again, Kieran hanging back slightly.

"My name's Annabel," the girl said, holding out her hand. James shook it.

"James. James Potter." Annabel's eyes grew wide.

"J-James Potter as in Harry Potters son?"

"That's the one. You're a witch then? I've never seen you at Hogwarts before." Annabel looked away.

"No, I'm a squib, not a witch."

"Oh…"

"Yes well, it's fine all the same. Imagine that, meeting James Potter on a normal day at the park." James smiled.

"Yeah, that is interesting, isn't it?" As they drew closer to the other two girls, Kieran buried his face in his face in his book again.

"This is James," Annabel introduced.

"Hi. This is Josh, Samuel and Kieran," he replied, pointing to each in turn.

"Great!" Annabel said, smiling. "Now, what ice-cream do you all like?"

----

"Thomas, please don't do that," Harry said, grabbing Marcus' toy car from his hand and giving it back to the screaming four year old. Thomas just smiled and sat back down at the table, waiting for another opportunity to grab the car.

Hermione was coming back today and Harry realized that if the house was a mess when she showed up, then he'd never be left alone with the children again. He jumped as the doorbell rung and rushed to answer it before any of his kids could.

"It's about time you – oh," Harry had been expecting Hermione and when he found someone else standing there, to say the least, he was shocked.

"I'm sorry," she replied. "Is this a bad time?"

"N-no, not at all, I was just expecting my wife back, that's all." The woman smiled and held out her hand.

"I'm Lucy, the new student Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts," she introduced. Harry mentally slapped himself for forgetting about that.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I completely forgot you were meant to be coming over for some training today. Err…come in, come in, we'll try and work around the kids or rearrange the date or something." He held the door open for her and then led her to the kitchen in time to see Thomas grab Marcus' toy car again.

"Give it back," Harry ordered. Thomas sighed and handed the toy over. "Would you like a drink or anything to eat? I was just about to make the kids lunch."

"If it's not too much trouble…"

"Of course not, what do you like in your sandwiches? Ham? Cheese? Peanut butter?"

"Oh, I'll just have ham please." Harry nodded and turned round to the counter. He knew Lucy was here to train for a position of Defence Against the Dark Arts, which she would then go and teach at another school, but Harry really had no idea why _he _had to help her train and why she couldn't do it with another teacher, or possibly one from another school. Marcus screeched from the table again and Harry turned round in time to see him spill his drink over and Lucy jump up from the table. Her chair fell backwards and hit the floor. Harry closed his eyes.

"Thomas, up to your room, now," he ordered. Thomas quickly jumped from the table and ran out of the room.

"I'm so, so sorry." Harry grabbed a dish cloth and moped up Marcus' strawberry juice.

"It's alright. I don't suppose you know a spell to get this out, do you?" she asked, hopefully.

"I'm afraid not, it's my wife you'd have to ask for that one. Just err…wait a second and you can borrow a shirt or something." Lucy tried, unsuccessfully to rub the stain out of her shirt with a tissue, only making it worse.

"Follow me," Harry said, beckoning to her. She quickly followed him out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"I'll just get you one of my tops, I'm not sure Hermione would appreciate me lending out her tops." Lucy nodded and sat on the edge of the bed. She had time to glance around the room a bit before Harry reappeared with a plain white top.

"There's a bathroom through there that you can change in," he said, pointing to a door at the side of the room. Lucy nodded and walked into the bathroom with the top. Harry laid down on the bed and closed his eyes.

_Far too much room in this thing, _he thought. _Too empty. _Lucy emerged from the bathroom with her shirt over her arm. Harry's eyes snapped open.

"I'm really, really sorry about all of this, would you mind if we rearranged the date?"

"No, not at all."

"Great, I'll send you an owl."

"Right." Lucy turned round to open the door as Harry pushed himself up to sit against the head board of the bed. Rubbing his eyes under his glasses, Harry leaned his head against his knees that were pulled up against his chest. He heard the door open and the squeak of surprise that Rebecca let out.

"Oh, hello, you must be Hermione." Harry's head snapped up so quick that it smashed into the head board behind him. He jumped off the bed rubbing it and then his eyes flashed to look at Hermione. He realized that this didn't look good and the look of hurt that had crossed Hermione's face didn't go amiss.

"Er…This…this isn't what you think it is," he said, pointing to himself and then Lucy. Hermione crossed her arms and glared at him. Harry's mouth opened and closed, not sure what he was meant to say. A door opened behind her and Harry closed his eyes as Lilly stepped out, taking in the scene before her.

"What's going on?"


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N – I have a few things to say, so if you actually care, read them:**

**First of all, I think I should apologise to anyone who's been waiting for this chapter. In my defence, I've had Maths and English coursework to do and my mum got married, she's pregnant and we're moving house. It's all a bit much to deal with if I'm trying to write a story at the same time. So I apologise…again…**

**Secondly - Originally, that last chapter ended differently, but I thought leaving it like that would be interesting…**

**And last, but not least, this chapter was going to be longer, but I think I've kept you waiting long enough, so I'll let you see what happens after Hermione finds Harry and Lucy in their room (that last in chapter nine was meant to say 'Lucy' not 'Rebecca' it was just a mistake on my part, there _was _no Rebecca. Didn't mean to confuse you! I'll change it when I get the time!)**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Ten**

"I think I should leave," Lucy said after a few minutes of awkward silence. No one said anything as she walked out of the room and down the stairs.

"So," Hermione started, calmly. "Who was that?" Harry swallowed.

"Hermione, this…this isn't what it looks like."

"That's not what I asked."

"She…she's the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I-I'm meant to be training her," Harry replied. "Look, Hermione I didn't-"

"Right." Hermione uncrossed her arms and walked off down the stairs. Harry stared at the spot she had been standing in for a few seconds before rushing off after her. Lilly wasn't far behind. By the time Harry got down to the kitchen, Hermione was standing beside the kitchen counter, finishing off the lunch he had started making. Neither of them spoke and he watched as she handed Marcus his lunch and then told him to go and sit in the living room. She waited until he was gone, looked through the door to make sure he was okay, closed it and turned to Harry.

"So, how long has _that _been going on?" she asked, skeptically.

"Nothing has been going on. I swear, Hermione, I would never do that to you-"

"Was it the first time she's come round or has she been round before?"

"That was the first time, but we-"

"You _knew _I was coming home today you selfish git-"

"I know, I've been looking forward to it all week-"

"Don't mess around with me Harry James Potter," Hermione shouted. Harry winced as she used his full name and he stepped back, expecting her to slap him. Lilly looked from one parent to the other trying to decide whether her dad was lying or if her mum had got the wrong idea.

"Hermione, just listen to me for a second-"

"How could you do this to me? After everything we've been through-"

"I haven't _done _anything!" Harry shouted, his temper rising. Hermione's eyes filled with tears as she glared at him.

"Don't you raise your voice at me, Potter!"

"I'll do what I bloody well like-"

"Including shagging someone else behind your wife's back?"

"Hermione…" Harry growled in frustration. "I would never _ever _cheat on you, even if someone offered me all the money in the world-"

"All I have is your word, Harry-"

"And that should be enough!" Hermione looked away from him and closed her eyes before turned round and walking past Lilly into the hallway. Harry quickly followed her.

"Don't walk away from me again, Hermione," he pleaded, causing her to turn round and look at him. Harry looked around frantically and then yanked open a draw beside him, pulling out a small bag. He tipped the contents into his hand and then held them up so that she could see them.

"Do you remember these, Hermione. Do you remember what they did? What Dumbledore said? Do you?" he demanded. Lilly looked between her parents, confused.

"I remember."

"And you remember when you threw it at me and told me to get Ginny's name put on it instead of mine?"

"What? Do you want me to tell you to go and get _her _name put on it?"

"Listen to me god-damn-it!" Harry shouted. The door opened and he closed his eyes as James stepped in, followed by Kieran.

"Don't shout at me!" Hermione cried. "You're the one in the wrong here, not me!"

"Why won't you let me get a word in edgeways! I haven't done anything! We weren't doing anything!"

"Of course. She was in our room in one of your shirts for no reason-"

"Marcus spilt his drink over her!"

"What a brilliant excuse-"

"I'm not lying!" James stared wide eyed at his two parents and then at Lilly who mouthed over to him 'in a minute'. Hermione turned to walk away but Harry darted forward and grabbed her arm.

"Lilly, James, can you both go to your rooms please?" he asked.

"But-"

"To your rooms!" he roared. The twins and Kieran quickly hurried to do as they were told.

"Now," he said, turning back to Hermione. "I want to ask you something."

"What?"

"How do _I _know that you weren't cheating on me while you were away?" Hermione stared at him and opened her mouth to reply but Harry cut her off.

"I trust you. That's how I know you weren't. Please. You have to trust me and believe me when I say we did nothing." Hermione looked down at the ground.

"Let me go, I want to go for a walk." Harry looked like he wouldn't do as she asked, but reluctantly he let go and let Hermione grab her wand from the table and walk out of the door. As soon as it closed he closed his eyes and kicked the wall as hard as he could before leaning against it and sinking down to the floor.

"Dad?" Harry looked up at Marcus.

"What, Marcus?"

"Can I have another sandwich?" he asked. Harry smiled weakly and his eyes flashed to look at Lilly and James who were standing at the top of the stairs.

"Of course you can."


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Eleven**

James flicked through the channels on the television, thoroughly bored. His mum was god-knows-where and his dad was moping round the house. Lilly was in her room with Kieran, Sirius was mucking around with something in his room, Thomas and Marcus were playing in the paddling pool they'd set up in the garden and Lucy was asleep. He seemed to be the only one without anything to do.

He heard giggling from behind him and looked round to see Lilly and Kieran walking into the room.

"Hey, James," Kieran greeted, seating himself on the spare sofa and then pulling Lilly onto his lap.

"Alright?" James replied, turning his head in their direction.

"Hmmm. I'm good." Lilly rested her head on Kieran's shoulder and looked at her brother.

"You look bored," she stated, smiling.

"Maybe that's because I am." James flicked the channel again and settled back as a cartoon came on. Lilly rolled her eyes and Kieran, noticing her boredom dipped his head down to kiss her.

"Ewww…you're just as disgusting as mum and dad," Thomas moaned. Lilly pulled away and put her head back on her boyfriends shoulder.

"I'll remember you said that when you get a girlfriend-"

"No way, girls are icky." Kieran chuckled and Lilly glared at him, stopping him instantly.

"You'll think differently when you're older," he defended. Lilly kissed his cheek. All of them looked round as the doorbell rung and Thomas ran off to open the door. They all heard Harry walking from the kitchen to the front door and Lilly looked round to see who it was.

"James, it's for you." James frowned and stood up from the chair and ducked under his dad's arm.

"Oh…err…hi, Anna."

"Hi, James. I'm not intruding or anything, am I?" Annabel asked. James went to answer but his dad got their first with a, "no of course not." James smiled and invited her in, leading her to the living room where Kieran and Lilly were still sitting on the sofa.

"Hi, Annabel," Kieran greeted, smiling.

"Hi, Kieran." Lilly looked from Kieran to James and then Annabel.

"Oh yeah, right, err…Lilly, this is Annabel, Annabel, this is my twin sister."

"Hi, nice to meet you." James sat on the double sofa and offered Anna the seat next to him.

"We were just watching…err…"

"Cartoons?" Anna offered, smiling.

"Yeah, cartoons." All four of them looked up as they heard Lucy crying.

"Lilly! Can you go upstairs and get her please, and do you all want a pizza for lunch?"

"Yes!" Lilly jumped up from Kieran's lap and rushed up the stairs to get her sister while Kieran tried to make himself more comfortable on the chair.

"So," James said, turning to Anna. "How did you know where I lived?"

"I ran into one of your friends and they pointed your house out to me."

"James, have you seen that box I left down here?" Sirius asked, walking into the room and looking under the sofa.

"No, are you sure you left it in here?" James asked, jumping off the sofa and lifting up the cushions.

"Yeah. I _need _to find it-"

"Wait, what has it got in it?"

"Err…you probably don't want to know." Anna stood up and lifted up the cushions on her end of the sofa and Kieran did the same.

"Sirius, how can you _loose _it?" James cried.

"I don't know. I left it down here to go to the toilet and I forgot about it until just now."

"What's in it?" James demanded, rounding on his brother.

"Well…err…you know that powder that we used on Lilly and Kieran?"

"Yes," James replied, through gritted teeth.

"There's a couple of boxes of those in it."

"So what happens if the whole lot of the dust falls over someone?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of."

"What dust?" Kieran interrupted.

"Well, you know that day I took a picture of you a Lilly kissing in her room?"

"Yeah…"  
"Sirius used love dust on you. The two people you sprinkle it on…make out, and depending on the amount of dust you use, it can be very…intense."

"So how much did you use on me and Lilly?" Kieran questioned, pulling up another cushion.

"A couple of pinches of the stuff," Sirius replied looking under the stuff on the table.

"And how much is in each box and how many boxes are there?"

"Well…the boxes aren't that big…and there's about ten times the amount I used on you in each box and there's I don't know five…maybe six boxes…"

"Are you having a laugh? Five or six!" James shouted. "Kieran." The other teenager looked round and Anna and Sirius stood back as they both lifted up the double sofa. Sirius dropped to his belly and shook his head.

"Not there."

"How could you _loose _it?" Kieran moaned, dropping onto the sofa and burying his face in his hands.

"What's happened?" Lilly asked. Everyone jumped and looked round at her and were just about to explain when Harry appeared at the doorway.

"What's going on in here, all I can hear is you lot shouting at each other."

"N-nothing's wrong, we were just…just…" James racked his brain for something to say.

"Arguing over the remote," Kieran interrupted.

"Yeah! The remote. You know, we just couldn't decide what to watch," Sirius added. Harry looked between them suspiciously and then pulled something out from behind his back. Sirius let out a strangled squeak when he realized that it was his box.

"So you…weren't looking for this then?" he asked.

"N-no…" Sirius squeaked.

"That's funny, because it has your name on it."

"O-oh…w-well it must be my monthly package from Fred and George-"

"Nice try," Harry interrupted, smiling. "You won't be getting this back for a while. If you're careless enough to leave these packages lying around the house, you don't deserve to have them." With his last word said, Harry walked off into the kitchen.

"That went well," James joked, smiling. Quickly, he leapt onto the sofa beside Anna, who had taken a seat again.

"So, Anna, how long are you allowed to stay for?" he asked.

"I don't have to be home for another six hours."

"Great! Anyone want to watch a film?"

"Horror Film?" Kieran asked and then laughed at the look on Lilly's face. He noted that she hadn't actually brought Lucy back down and guessed she must have managed to get her to sleep again.

"I'm all for a horror film," James chimed in. Sirius looked between the four of them, waiting for them to chose a film so he could decide if he was allowed to watch it or not. The two girls looked at each other, smiled and at the same time said, "Boys." James laughed.

"Horror film it is then." Jumping up from the sofa, he walked over to their DVD cabinet and looked through it.

"We never agreed to that," Anna said, looking over at Lilly.

"You never disagreed either," Kieran pointed out.

"Oh well, we'll let them have their fun," Lilly interrupted. "Then we can take pictures of them when they're scared half to death." Anna nodded and agreed to watch any horror film that James chose.

"Sixth Sense?" Lilly questioned, five minutes later. "I thought you were going to watch something scary-"

"-You find it scary-"

"-No I find it disturbing."

"Let's watch it," Kieran said. "I've never seen it before."

That's how they found themselves an hour later on the sofas, with the lights out and the curtains closed. Each girl had their head buried in one of the boy's shoulders and the boys had their arms round the girl's shoulders. They were all on the edge of their seats, even though three of them had already seen it, so when the front door slammed shut all of them jumped. James grabbed the remote control and paused the film before climbing off the sofa and opening the living room door. Both his parents stood in the hallway, looking at each other.

"We need to talk, in the kitchen," Hermione said, nodding towards the doors behind her husband. Harry gulped and followed his wife into the kitchen.

"Lilly," James hissed, beckoning her over. Lilly rolled her eyes and stood up, following her twin out of the room. James pressed his ear to the kitchen door to tried and listen, which turned out to be unsuccessful. Anna and Kieran appeared at the living room door and Sirius ran over to his older siblings. Carefully, the three of them pushed the door open, just enough for them to see into the room. As there wasn't much room, they let James look through.

"I'm sorry. I got the wrong end of things," Hermione said, twirling a strand of hair round her finger. Harry walked towards her and kissed her, and then together they smashed backwards into the counter. James closed his eyes unbelievingly when Sirius' box fell from the cupboard above them, smashing all the small boxes of powder inside and covering Harry and Hermione in it. He opened his eyes again to see the two of them turning round and backing into the kitchen table. He yanked his head away when Harry slipped Hermione's trousers down and pulled the door closed.

"They're doing it on the kitchen table," he hissed, blushing.

"Doing what?" Lilly asked, clearly confused. James sent her a look and she instantly understood him.

"Oh…_IT_, it…ugh! On the kitchen table! Oh my god!" Lilly covered her face with her hands and squeaked when she heard the table slide across the floor in the next room.

"I…err…I think I just found out what happens when you use five boxes of that powder on someone," James whispered, rubbing his head. Kieran and Anna looked at each other, obviously enjoying their friend's discomfort.

"I'm scarred for life," James moaned.

----

"I'll call you," Anna said, smiling as she stood on her tiptoes and kissed James on the cheek. James nodded and waved as she walked away down the pathway. He waited until she was out of sight before closing the door.

"Dinner's ready!" Hermione called. James rushed into the kitchen and stood beside Lilly.

"Do you want to eat in here or the living room?" Hermione asked, holding out a plate each for the twins. They looked at their mum, then the kitchen table, their dad, each other, back at their mum, and then answered together.

"Living Room."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N – Okay, I'm going to start spelling Lily with one 'l' because I'm writing a James and Lily fanfiction and I don't want to be spelling her name wrong. **

**Sorry, I've been a while updating…I've been bombarded with Coursework…which I still haven't finished, but I've had this on here for a while, just not any time to update. So…here you go…**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Twelve**

The end of the summer holidays came quicker than anyone expected and the Potter family finally found themselves on Platform Nine and Three Quarters. James was busy helping his dad haul things onto the train, while the rest of the family where on the platform with Hermione.

"So," Harry said, smiling. "You and Anna?" James blushed.

"Well, I haven't asked her out yet," he replied, lifting the other end of Lily's trunk.

"Well, you'd better hurry up and do it, or someone will take her."

"When?"

"Christmas break?" James smiled and nodded before letting his dad levitate the trunk onto the rack above the seats in a spare compartment, then he followed him back out onto the platform. Kieran and Josh came up behind him and fell into step with him.

"How was the rest of your holiday?" Josh asked, patting his friend on the back.

"Fabulous-"

"I heard you and Anna hit it off."

"Well, not quite," James replied, blushing. As he came up behind Lily, he smacked her lightly round the head, earning a slap on the arm. Rubbing his arm in mock pain, he turned round to look at the rest of the students boarding the train.

"Missed you," Kieran said, wrapping his arms round Lily from behind. She blushed and looked up at her mum who smiled in return without looking at her. Lily did her best to turn her head to look at her boyfriend.

"Enough to kiss me?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. Kieran pretended to think about it long and hard and then smiled.

"I suppose so." With that, he moved his head down to kiss her.

"Tch, get a room you two," Josh said, looking at his two friends. Kieran pulled away and turned to face him.

"You're just jealous that I have a girlfriend and you don't," he teased, smiling.

"I'll have one by the end of the year, you just wait."

"Sure you will," Kieran replied, laughing. Lily smiled and reached down to wrap her hands around Kieran's.

"Come on," Harry hurried, jumping off the train. "You won't get any seats. I remember how much _that _sucked." The group of teenagers hurriedly climbed on the train, while James and Kieran helped with the last of the trunks.

"You're going to be away for a whole year," Hermione moaned, as Harry pulled her into a hug.

"No, I'll be home for Christmas," he replied, kissing the top of her head. Hermione sighed as the train whistle blew and then stood on tiptoes to kiss her husband. The two of them heard a wolf whistle a turned round to find Ron and Lily standing in front of them.

"Shouldn't be doing that in front of your students, I mean what kind of an example are you setting for them?" Ron said, jokingly. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I hardly think _kissing _is classified as a 'bad example'." Ron smiled before slapping Harry on the back and pushing him towards the Hogwarts Express.

"Come on, we're going to miss the train. I'm against missing the Hogwarts Express ever again," he said, shuddering at the memory.

"Excuse me," Lily said, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at Ron. He smiled, jumped off the train again, ran over to her and pulled her into a kiss.

"Oi, Ron, bad example!" Harry shouted, smirking.

"Shut up!" he called back. James let his dad and Ron get on first before climbing through the open door.

"James! Wait!" James looked out to see who had called him and staggered as someone threw themselves into his arms.

"Anna?" he asked, looking down at her. She looked up at him and without a word pressed her lips to his. James heard someone wolf whistle behind him in the train, but paid them no attention.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't let you go back to Hogwarts without doing that," Anna apologized, finally pulling away. James smiled and kissed her cheek.

"Don't worry. I should have done it ages ago," he replied. The whistle at the front of the train blew again and the train began to crawl forward.

"Don't you get a boyfriend or anything before I get back at Christmas," James said, kissing her one last time. Anna laughed and jumped off the train, waving frantically at him as it turned the corner.

James turned round to find everyone looking at him and he blushed furiously.

"Err…yeah…shall we get to our compartment then?" he stuttered, pushing gently past Lily to walk down the carriage. Josh, Samuel, Kieran and Lily looked at each other and, smiling, followed James down the train carriage. Harry and Ron had long since disappeared to one of the front carriages. James and Lily refused to let them sit anywhere near them; it was bad enough they were their teachers.

"So," Lily said, sitting in front of James by the window. "How _are _you going to go a whole term without her?" James looked round at his twin briefly before looking back out of the window.

"Do I get a picture of the two of you? I mean, you have one of me and Kieran. It's only fair-"

"Well I'm not going to be so careless. Besides, it's funnier when it's _you _in that position, because then I can show it to mum and dad. They're more concerned about what their first _daughter _gets up to. Us guys can protect ourselves." Lily rolled her eyes and snuggled up to Kieran, who had taken a seat beside her. She was about to retort when the compartment door was yanked open and a few people stumbled in.

"Oh, I didn't know this compartment was full of scum," Ryan sneered, looking round at the five of them.

"It wasn't before, but it is now," James replied, looking the Slytherin up and down. If you wanted someone to relate Ryan Luther to, it would be Malfoy. Ryan was one of Malfoy's relatives, or would have been if Malfoy were actually alive. However, he seemed to have inherited the ever famous Malfoy family hatred of anyone with the last name of 'Potter'.

"Got a bit mouthy over the summer have you?" Luther questioned, smirking and leaning on the compartment door. James glared at him before turning his head and looking back out the window.

"Smart move." Ryan's eyes flickered to look at Lily and Kieran and his face broke out into a grin.

"How disgusting. It's really quite a shame to waste all that beauty on a Longbottom, don't you think?"

"I don't give a toss what you think," Lily spat, sitting up in her seat. Luther looked rather taken aback, but recovered quickly and made to step forward, only to be stopped by Josh and Samuel who jumped up to block his way. The Slytherin smiled and looked between the two of them before fixing his gaze on a glaring Lily and blowing her a kiss. Slamming the door shut the lot of them left.

"Ugh…I hate him so much!" Lily cried, resuming her earlier position with her head resting on Kieran's shoulder.

"Don't we all?" Kieran replied, running his hand through her hair.

"You don't get kisses blown at you across the classroom every lesson." James smiled from his seat and Lily kicked him in the shin to stop him from saying anything. The door opened once again, this time revealing Sirius and his two friends Lucas and Michelle.

"Can we join you?" he asked.

"You're trunk's in here. You may as well." Sirius smiled and jumped onto the seat beside Samuel, quickly getting into a conversation about Quidditch. Lily pulled away from Kieran and the two switched places so that she could talk to Michelle.

"Haven't seen you all summer," Lily said.

"I went away with my parents," Michelle replied.

"Oh, that's right, I remember now. Sirius was really depressed when he found out you wouldn't be able to come over."

"He was?" she asked, smiling and looking over at her best friend. As if feeling her gaze on him Sirius turned his head and, after a look of concern crossed his face, he smiled too. Michelle blushed and turned back to Lily.

"We err…saw Luther and his 'gang' wandering off down the carriage. Did they come in here?" she asked. Lily screwed up her nose.

"Don't remind me."

"I'll take that as a yes."

"He keeps acting as if I actually _like _him. It's sick."

"Well, I'm only twelve and even _I _know that boys can be pathetic and stupid like that sometimes." Lily laughed.

"You got that right."

"Woo! Hogwarts!" James cried, pressing his head against the window.

"Better get in our robes," Kieran added, grabbing his school robes from the rack above him.

"Another year at Hogwarts," Sirius said, stretching. "I can't wait."


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Thirteen**

The eight of them all managed to squash into one carriage, but Lily was still sitting on Kieran's lap and Michelle may as well have been on Sirius'. Lily wanted to laugh at the looks on both their faces as they tried to look anywhere but at each other, but refrained herself from doing so in case she embarrassed them even more. It was quite a quiet journey and by the time they reached the castle, the lot of them were fed up and all jumped out the carriage as quickly as they could, ready to set off towards the castle.

Lily was the first to sit down next to her best friend, Sarah, followed by Kieran who wrapped his arm round her waist. James, Josh and Samuel sat opposite them whilst Sirius, Michelle and Lucas sat further down the table with their other friends.

Harry was sitting at the teachers table beside Ron and the two of them were deep in conversation, Harry pausing every few minutes or so to look over at Lily and Kieran and scowl.

As soon as everyone - minus the first years - was in the hall, Professor Dumbledore stood up and raised his hands for silence. **(A/N - Yes, he's still the Headmaster. Wouldn't be the same without him)**. Everyone turned to look at him, instantly.

"Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts. Before I bore you all with my speech, shall we invite in the new First Year Students?" At this, the double doors of the Great Hall swung open slowly, revealing a group of terrified looking eleven year olds. Each one in turn was sorted into their house and then, finally, Dumbledore stood up for his speech.

"Welcome, to all our new First Year Students. I hope you all enjoy your education here at Hogwarts. Now, my sincere apologies. I haven't been as efficient as I was in previous years, most likely due to my age, and haven't quite been able to send out the letter for this years positions at Hogwarts. I'll err…yes…Minerva, if you would." McGonagall rose from her seat and took Dumbledore's position in front of the staff table and pulled a list from her pocket, smiling over her glasses.

"If you would come up to get your badges. Slytherin Prefects this year are Ryan Luther and Lisa Barton." A cheer rose from the Slytherin table while the Gryffindors shifted uncomfortably in their seats, groaning.

"The prefects for Hufflepuff this year will be Martha North and Gareth Holmes. The Prefects for Ravenclaw; Daniela Lobo and Patrick McKenzie. Gryffindor prefects; Lily Potter and Kieran Longbottom." Everyone at the Gryffindor table cheered, causing the couple to blush. "And as Gryffindor now need a new Quidditch captain, this post will be filled by James Potter." Once again the table erupted in cheers and James grinned, quickly running to catch up with Lily and Kieran to get his badge.

Once all this was done and the new prefects and James were seated again, Dumbledore rose and held up his hands for silence.

"And now, let the feast begin." The tables filled with food and everyone quickly dug in.

"I did wonder when you didn't get the Quidditch Captain badge," Samuel said, clapping James on the back.

"I _panicked_ when I didn't get the Captain Badge," James replied, laughing.

----

After the feast, the prefects had to lead the First Years to their Common Room. They were out in the Entrance Hall when they ran into Ryan and the First Year Slytherin's.

"So, Lily, you're a prefect too," Ryan drawled, smiling at her. Lily stopped and turned round to face him.

"What do you want now, Luther?"

"I call you by your first name, is it so hard to return the favor?" Lily glared at him without answering and she noted that the First Years had also stopped and were now watched the two of them.

"Anyway, my point is," the Slytherin continued. "We're prefects now. We don't get in trouble for sneaking around the school. What'd you say? Wanna 'sneak around' with me tonight?" Lily scowled for a moment and then smiled sweetly, walking forward to stand right in front of him.

"I would like nothing more."

"What?"

"As long as my wand is right here," she replied, pulling out her wand and pushing it into the exposed flesh under his skin.

"There's no teachers around," she continued. "And I can do this." Before Ryan even had a chance to do anything, Lily kneed him between the legs, leaving the Slytherin to cry out in pain and fall to the floor. Pocketing her wand and smirking, Lily walked past Kieran and the Gryffindors. Kieran looked from Lily to Luther and back again before laughing and following her, calling to the first years to follow them.

"I wish I'd had a camera to catch the look on his face right there," he said when he caught up with her. Lily smiled.

"I thought I'd play him at his own game. It worked quite well if I do say so myself."

"I'm not getting in your way ever again," Kieran joked. "I don't want to have to face your wraith." Lily smiled.

"Well, now you know what you'll get if you ever cheat on me." Kieran whistled.

"I won't be doing that then." Lily raised her eyebrows and looked round at him.

"I hope that's not just because you know what I'll do to you if you do."

"No, of course not!" Kieran cried. Lily stopped and turned to stand in front of him, her face inches from his.

"I'm just joking," she reassured, smiling.

"Oh." Lily smiled and gave him a quick kiss before turning to the Portrait of the Fat Lady behind her.

"Sugar Pops." The Fat Lady smiled at her and opened up, revealing the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Boys dorms are to the left, girls to the right, your stuff will already be up there," Lily explained before seating herself on the sofa beside her two brothers.

"Why are you so jolly?" James questioned, instantly picking up on her good mood. He took a look at her, before glaring up at Kieran, who held up his hands defensively.

"Hey, nothing to do with me. She just kneed Luther in…well…somewhere _I'd _rather not be kneed." James looked at Lily with his mouth hanging open.

"You just did _what_?"

"I gave him what was coming to him," Lily scoffed. "Besides, it's not that big a deal. He'll recover…eventually," she added as an afterthought. James erupted in laughter and Sirius smirked.

"That was better than any of the pranks I had planned this year," the twelve year old said. "I wish I could have seen the look on his face."

"Don't we all?" James added, getting the three monosyllabic words in between laughs. Lily smiled and kissed Kieran on the cheek before announcing that she was off to bed. After a 'goodnight' call from the three boys, she disappeared up the staircase to the girls dorms. James rounded on Sirius the moment she was out of sight, knowing that if he'd said anything while Lily was there, she'd have given him a mouthful.

"So, lover-boy, how long have you fancied Michelle?" Sirius blushed furiously and sunk down into his seat.

"I-I don't fancy her," he replied.

"And I'm the King of Bulgaria. Come on, it's so obvious!" James argued, and then laughed at the look on his brother's face. "Don't worry, Lover-boy, she hasn't noticed, even if everyone else has." A look of relief passed over Sirius' face only to be replaced seconds later by panic.

"Y-You can't say anything to her though-"

"Why not?"

"Because…because I err…"

"You err…"

"Just please don't say anything," he begged. "I'll tell her…when I want to. I don't want her to find out through you." James frowned.

"Alright, but I don't want my seeker distracted by girls in the middle of a match." Sirius smiled and jumped up from the sofa.

"I won't be, I promise." Without saying goodnight, Sirius climbed up the stairs to his dorm.

"I'm going to turn in too actually," Kieran said, standing up from the sofa. "Night, James."

"Night."


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N – Just so you know, Lily, James and their mates are in 5th year and Sirius is in his 2nd year. **

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Fourteen**

James had scheduled the first Quidditch practice for the coming Friday lunch, as it was booked on the weekends already. Now, the only thing he needed to worry about was making sure none of his team got a detention on the Friday, which meant keeping his younger brother out of trouble.

So far, he stopped him from setting off two stink bombs, putting sneezing powder in someone's drink and sending a trick pixie to McGonagall in the post. Come Thursday, James was tired as hell and was currently sitting in his charms class, trying not to drop off at any second.

"Master Potter!" James jumped out of his seat and his eyes fluttered open.

"Yeah? What? Sorry," he mumbled, looking around for the person who had called his name. Professor Flitwick was standing at the front of the room, glaring at him.

"I'm not sure that sleeping is going to make your cushion turn into a mug, Mr. Potter." James yawned and picked up his wand from where it had fallen on the floor.

"Sorry, Sir." James waited until Flitwick was looking away again before grunting and laying his head on his desk.

----

Hermione sat dumbstruck on the sofa in the living room, staring at the TV, which, mind you, wasn't even on. She had been sitting there for the last half hour in silence, so when the doorbell rung she nearly died of shock.

Quickly jumping up from the sofa, she opened the door to find Ginny and Lily there with their kids and Thomas and Marcus. Ginny laughed at the look on her face.

"Forgot we were coming over?" she asked.

"Err…no…I just lost track of time, that's all," Hermione replied, looking over at the clock on her wall.

"Mummy, I painted you a picture at school, look!" Marcus cried, waving a piece of paper in front of her face. Hermione snapped out of her daze and picked him up, smiling.

"Wow, that's lovely. Lets go and put it on the fridge with your other paintings." Thomas ran in and up the stairs with Sarah and Ryan, Lily and Ginny's kids, while the three mums walked into the kitchen.

"So, what's wrong with you?" Lily questioned, seating herself on the opposite side of the table to where Hermione was standing.

"Nothing," she lied.

"We know you better than that, come on," Ginny pressed, also taking a seat.

"Alright, but no telling anyone-"

"We won't."

"I should really be telling Harry this first but…"

----

James collapsed on the sofa in the Common Room at the end of the day and groaned into a cushion.

"If anyone wants James," Lilly said, sitting on the arm of the chair and patting his head. "My dear brother will be dying over here." James chuckled into the pillow and rolled over to look at her.

"And may I ask what has been keeping you up and making you so tired?"

"Sirius. I don't want him to have detention during practice." Lily clicked her tongue.

"_That's _what's been keeping you up? For goodness sake."

"What's that supposed to mean?" James asked, sitting up and glaring at her.

"Well _why _you waste your time with Quidditch I don't know-"

"Because we're Potters, and Potters play Quidditch. Just like dad and his dad. And besides, I enjoy it."

"I don't see how. All you do is fly around on brooms throwing a ball to each other-"

"You're failing to grasp the main concept of the game-"

"Oh, that's right, getting _hit _by balls and falling fifty feet to your death-"

"No-"

"Yes-"

"Oh, I'm not going to argue with you about Quidditch. You wouldn't understand Quidditch if I gave you a three day lecture on its rules-"

"That's because I fail to see how people flying around on brooms passes as entertainment-"

"You _fail _to see _anything_ that isn't written down in a book-"

"At least I don't fall asleep in my classes when my OWLs are coming up-"

"It's not as if I do it every lesson-"

"No, but your reason for actually doing it is pathetically stupid!" Lily shouted back, fuming. Most of the common room had turned to look at the two of them now and even Sirius had come down from his dorm to see what all the noise was about.

"Stop shouting at me because I know more about something than you do!" James argued as both of them jumped up and faced each other off.

"I'm not! I'm shouting at you because you decided to start an argument with me about why you've not been sleeping all week!"

"_YOU _insisted on belittling the game!"

"Says the person who mocked me after he read my diary!" Lilly cried, finally deciding that now she was arguing with him she may as well argue with him about what he'd done to annoy her over the summer.

"I gave it back!"

"_After _you read it!"

"I didn't read all of it!"

"But you _did _read it, and you only gave it back because dad made you!" Every single eye was on them and sometime during the argument Michelle had appeared at the bottom of the stairs to the girls dormitory and Kieran and Josh had stepped in through the portrait hole.

"I suppose you've read it since as well. I did wonder why it always kept disappearing!" James had the decency to keep quiet and Lily took his silence as a 'yes I have read it'.

"Oh, so you have, have you? You're such an arse-"

"Don't you start calling _me _names-"

"Yeah! Because calling you names is so much worse than reading your sisters diary!"

"And what a lovely diary it was! Oh Kieran this and Kieran that and my god, Kieran's so-" James spun round and fell against the chair as Lily slapped him as hard as she could across the face. James reached up and ran his fingers along his cheek before looking down at them to find blood smeared across the tips of each. He looked up at Lily, hurt and didn't miss the look of apology and sympathy that crossed her face. In all the fifteen years that they'd argued, they'd never _ever _hit each other before.

Lily almost said sorry, but instead she let the tears that she had been holding back stream down her face and stepped over her brother, pushing through Sirius and Michelle to go to her dorm. James called her name a few times, but she completely ignored him. When his calls stopped and Lily disappeared, he looked round to find most people in the common room glaring at him, a few, mostly boys, wore a look of sympathy for him. No one came over to check that he was alright, not even his friends, so James climbed up and walked out through the portrait hole. For a few minutes, no one spoke, but then Sarah stood up and went after Lily, closely followed by Michelle.

"What happened?" Kieran asked, looking over at Sirius.

"I-I don't know," he replied, truthfully. "They started off arguing about Quidditch for some reason and then they went into everything else. I haven't seen them go at it that bad for a while." The rest of the common room stayed quiet and Kieran looked around nervously before sitting on the sofa after realizing that while Lily was in her dorm, he couldn't go and see her. She didn't come down for the rest of the night either, so Kieran was made to go to bed without seeing her. When James finally came in at five past ten at night Kieran glared at him and followed his progress across the room until he climbed into bed and pulled the hangings closed.

----

_**Going back to just after the fight**_

Lily threw herself onto her bed and buried her face in her pillow, sobbing. Sarah and Michelle rushed in a few minutes later and sat down either side of her on the bed. Sarah stroked her hair.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"No…I'm not!" Lily cried, tightening her grip on her pillow. Michelle put one of her hands on Lily's shoulder.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine-"

"But it won't," Lily sobbed, rolling over and sitting up with her back resting against the headboard.

"What if he never forgives me-"

"I don't think he wouldn't forgive you-"

"I didn't mean to hit him, he was just annoying me so much!" Lily interrupted, picking up her pillow, putting it on her lap and burying her face into it again. Sarah moved up the bed to pull her into a hug and Lily gratefully fell into her arms.

"Is James okay?" she asked.

"I think so," Michelle replied. "We didn't really look, we came straight up here." Lily nodded and pulled away from her best friend, wiping her eyes.

"Thanks."

"It's alright."

**A/N – Well, one of them had to inherit that ever famous Potter bad temper, didn't they? Hope you liked the chapter… -sighs- reminds me so much of me and my siblings. Good times…**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N - I know I haven't updated much recently, but the truth is, I just haven't had the time. Last week I had my GCSE Science exams, and I used up most of my free time revising. My schedule's just been a little over-packed at the moment.  
Anyway, to make it up to you, this weekend, while enjoying a well deserved rest on the beach and a few trips out on my step-dad's parents boat (which I love), I wrote a few chapters...well, actually I finished up to chapter 18, but I won't give it to you all in one go...so, all that's left to say is; I hope you enjoy this chapter and chapter 16 (which will be up a few minutes after this one)**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Fifteen**

James met his Quidditch team down on the pitch at lunch time, ready to train for the full two hours that they had free. The positions of the team players were as follows: Samuel and a boy called Tom were the beaters; the three chasers were Gryffindors who James wasn't particularly fond of, but knew they were good so let them be, their names were Louise, Martha and Michael; James was the teams Keeper and finally Sirius was their Seeker. He had only taken James' position as Seeker last year when the team realized that he was smaller and weighed less, allowing the broom to move a lot faster. Their original Keeper had also left last year, and since that position still involved catching a ball of sorts, it was given to James.

"Just to get warmed up," James announced, while they were still in the changing rooms. "Do a couple of laps around the field." One by one, they filed out of the room and took off. James was the last one out and he looked round at the stadium before smiling and shooting up into the air on his Shadow, which was basically a more advanced version of the Firebolt. He'd got it for Christmas last year, while Sirius had gotten the newest, fastest broom; the Daemon. James found this understandable as his parents couldn't afford that broom for both of them, even if they did have loads of money, and Sirius held priority over fastest broom as he was the Seeker. James closed his eyes as he flew a few laps around the field, forgetting everything that had happened with Lily yesterday.

"Okay, everyone over here!" James called to his team, waiting for them all to gather round. "Chasers first, we're just going to do some basic passing and shooting." The team nodded and the others that weren't involved in the exercise quickly shot off for a race around the pitch.

----

Harry watched the team practicing out of his window, smiling to himself. Ron would be out there later with the new first years, attempting to teach them how to fly, though, if that turned out anything like Harry's first experience, it could be a bit of a disaster.

This was the only period that Harry had free today, after this he had a class of seventh year students, a double class with some third year students and then he had his twins class, which he knew they would be dreading.

Harry heard a bang behind him and dropped all the papers he was holding in fright. Looking round, he found Hermione standing there with Lucy in her arms.

"Sorry," she said, laughing. "Did I scare you?"

"Just a bit," Harry replied, picking up his work and putting it on his table. Lucy gurgled from Hermione's arms and Harry walked over to say hello to her.

"What did you want, anyway?" Harry asked, looking up at his wife.

"Well…actually I have something to tell you," she replied. Harry's face instantly fell and Hermione hurriedly explained.

"Oh, no it's nothing bad! It's just well…"

----

James and Lily walked into their Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson last, depressed. If there was anything worse than having your parents around in front of your friends, it was having your parent as you teacher. You'd have thought that they'd got used to it over the last for years, but they hadn't, it was still as embarrassing as it was back then.

Harry wasn't actually in there when they arrived, and they spent the first five minutes of the lesson talking, until he finally rushed out of his office.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to the time. I've err…been a bit busy today," he apologized, walking up to sit on the edge of his desk.

"Anyway, welcome back to Hogwarts, the first couple of lessons will be a bit jumbled up, as you're all used to from me, until I get myself sorted out. Now err…this lesson we'll be looking at werewolves and animagus forms. Off the top of their head, can anyone tell me the difference?" Lily sunk lower in her chair, knowing that her dad knew she knew the answer, but refusing to raise her hand. Harry instantly looked over at her, but decided to ask a Ravenclaw boy sitting a few seats in front of her.

"An animagus can choose to change into his animal form, whereas a werewolf has no choice and changes on a full moon."

"Exactly. Anyone else want to add to that?" Again his eyes flickered to Lily, but again she kept her hand down, leaving him to choose a Hufflepuff.

"A werewolf will attack anyone, even if it's their closest friend or a loved one."

"Correct-" he was about to continue, when the door opened and Luther stepped in, looking out of breath.

"Care to tell me why you're ten minutes late for my class?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I forgot I had this lesson," Ryan replied, smirking.

"As it's your first lesson I won't give you a detention, but I'd prefer if you didn't do it again."

"And I'd prefer a new Defense teacher, but it ain't happening," Luther muttered as he sat down behind Lily and Kieran, just loud enough for her to hear. He knew he'd hit a soft spot when he saw her shoulders tense.

"Could you all please turn to page one hundred and seventy four and read through the next four pages?" Everyone groaned and pulled out their books, laying them on the table and flicking slowly through the pages. Luther smiled at the back of Lily's head and after making sure that Harry wasn't looking, ripped one of the pages out of his book, scribbled a note on it threw it at Lily. She turned round to glare at him before snatching the note off the floor and flattening it out on the table. Kieran leaned over to read it and scowled.

_To my love,_

_A gift from me to you. I'm sorry I couldn't afford a whole book, I'm a bit short on cash at the moment. I'll give you it page by page, my dear. _

_Love Ryan. _

Lily ripped the note into as many little pieces as she could, earning her the attention of her father at the front of the classroom.

"Is there a problem, Lily?"

She did her best to smile innocently before replying, "Of course not."

"Are you ripping up paper for any particular reason?"

"I don't want it."

"And you couldn't have waited until after my class to do so?" Lily glared at him, daring him to embarrass her any more.

"No," she replied, through gritted teeth. "I couldn't." Harry stared at her for a moment longer, deciding whether he should tell her off for being rude or not. Lilly slammed the hand with the ripped up paper in it down on the table and fixed her eyes on the book. Ryan smiled again, finally glad that he was getting her back for hurting him, and pulled his wand from a pocket in his robes. Waiting until Harry wasn't looking, Luther pointed his wand at Lily's book, instantly making the words disappear and replacing them with words of his own.

_Lily, my dearest,_

_Your beauty entrances me and I cannot help but gaze upon your stunning features- _

Lily growled in frustration and turned the page over, only to be met with a new set of words.

_Lily, dear,_

_Will you be mine? Will you see sense and come to me? For we should be together-_

Lily glared at the book, wishing she could just burn a hole through it.

_-and we could share pure sweet kisses in the sunshine and raise a family together-_

Lily balled her fists and continued to stare at the book as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on.

_-all I ask is that you love me in return for the love I give you-_

Lily slammed her book shut in annoyance.

"Is there a problem?" Harry asked, looking up from his desk again.

"I'm missing one of the pages," Lily replied, trying to sound as calm as she could. "I'll just share with Kieran." Harry looked at her suspiciously for a second before returning his gaze to the paper work in front of him.

"What's wrong with you?" Kieran whispered.

"Luther is bugging me," Lily replied, pulling his book into the middle of the table so she could read too. The silence between them lasted all of five seconds, before Luther decided to prod her in the back with his wand until she spun round in her chair and, far louder than she mean to, shouted 'What?'

"Lily, that's enough," Harry shouted, standing up from his table. "Could you please stop constantly interrupting the class and do what you're meant to be doing." Lily clenched her jaw and tried to keep her temper under control.

"Sorry." This time when they went back to reading, Luther left her alone and she managed to get through the first page and a half before Harry stood up and told everyone to close their books.

"Uh, Mr McKenzie, the name of a famous werewolf mentioned in the book?"

"Goldenfang."

"Good. Miss Martin, the year a draught for werewolf transformation control was created?"

"1949."

"Correct. Lily, the _name _of the draught?" Lily grinded her teeth together, racking her brain for that piece of information she needed and knew she had read about years ago.

After a few moments of silence, she replied, "I don't know. I didn't get that far." Harry studied her for a moment.

"Very well, James? The name of the draught?" Almost the rest of the lesson continued like this, eventually moving off the topic of werewolves and switching to animagus.

"Now, I would like you to choose three people who are very close to you and choose them an animagus form. It will be due in for the lesson closest to Christmas, purely because I want _a lot _of thought put into it, with a reason for each choice. Class dismissed. Lily, James, can I talk to you for a moment please?" Lily angrily shoved her books into her bag as everyone stood up before turning round to look at Luther.

"If you so much as come within a hundred yards of me I will hex you so badly that you won't be able to walk until you're seventy," she hissed. Luther smirked and ran his fingers lightly across her cheek. She moved away from the contact and scowled at him, feeling just about ready to punch him as he blew her a kiss from the doorway.

"I'll wait for you outside," Kieran said, kissing Lily's cheek. Lily nodded and followed her brother to the front of the class.

"Do you have a problem with where you're sitting?" Harry questioned, looking at Lily. "Because I can't have Kieran dis-"

"It's not Kieran it's that bloody-"

"-Language-"

"-Luther. He aggravates me _all _the time and he never leaves me alone."

"Well, I'll be sure to sort that out next lesson," Harry replied. "Now, I have some very important news, your mother is in my office. Up you go." The twins gave him a quizzical look, but ascended the stairs none the less. They found their mum sitting in their dad's chair feeding Lucy.

"What's the news?" Lily questioned. Harry and Hermione looked at each other before looking back at their kids.

"Well, the thing is…"

**A/N – Do you want to know what it is? Shall I tell you? Nah, you can wait for the next chapter.**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N - Chapter 16, just as I promised...**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Sixteen**

"I'm pregnant…again," Hermione added as an afterthought. James' mouth dropped open and Lily stared at her mum dumbstruck.

"Well, when the hell did that…" James trailed off, suddenly realizing _exactly _when _that _had happened.

"Again?" Lily questioned. Hermione nodded uncertainly and looked from one twin to the other. Lily quickly put on a smile, not wanting to upset her parents.

"Well…that's another brother or sister to add to the family," she said. Hermione sighed in relief and then turned to look at James.

"I…well…I don't mean to be rude or anything, but don't you think there are…you know…enough of us-"

"James!" Lily cried, turning to look at him.

"Well I'm just saying…I mean, there are six of us already. We hardly need another brother or sister-"

"But we're going to have one-"

"Well not necessarily-"

"James!"

"Stop it you two," Harry ordered. "What's wrong with you both?" James ignored him and continued anyway.

"I'm expressing my opinions here, just like you do-"

"Well _you're _hurting someone's feelings while doing it-"

"Because _you _know all about hurting someone, don't you?"

"Don't you make this about what we-"

"James! Lily! Stop it, right now!" Harry shouted, stepping between the two of them. "I will _not _have you arguing with each other."

"Well, I can see that coming here and telling you was a bad idea," Hermione announced, standing up. "I'll go home now." Harry looked round in time to be kissed and then Hermione stepped into the fireplace and disappeared.

"What is _wrong _with you?" Lily cried, turning back to James. "You're a cruel, heartless, bastard!"

"Lily!"

"Well you want to know what you are?" James shouted back. "A selfish, spoilt-"

"James!"

"-not to mention annoying bloody sister!"

"_Me _selfish! All you ever think about is yourself! You just proved that right then!"

"Well at least _I'm _not the one that constantly starts arguments!"

"Well I'm sorry if I deflate your ego-inflated head when I argue with you in front of people, but you deserve it-"

"Ego-inflated head? That's rich coming from you!"

"JAMES! LILY!" Harry shouted, grabbing one of their shoulders each and turning them to face him. "What the bloody hell is wrong with both of you? Do you have no consideration for your mothers feelings?"

"Oh, _I _do! I don't particularly _want _another brother or sister, but I wasn't the one who opened my fat mouth and told mum that-"

"I didn't say that-"

"You may as well have-"

"Stop arguing, both of you!" Harry interrupted again, shaking the both of them. Lily yanked her arm away violently and grabbed her bag, which had been thrown by the door.

"Lily get back here now," her dad ordered. Lily ignored him and pulled the door open. "Don't you walk away from me!" Once again she paid him no mind and stormed through the open door, across the classroom and out the classroom door. Kieran was standing there just like he promised and jumped when she slammed the door behind her.

"Lily, what-" Without even waiting for him to finish his sentence, she walked off, leaving him to chase after her. Kieran tried the question a few more times and when she didn't answer he stood in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders to stop her. That's when she finally broke down in tears, collapsing into Kieran's arms, and causing the two of them to fall against the wall and slide down to the floor. Kieran held her in his arms, rubbing her back and whispering soothing words in her ear.

"Come on, what happened?"

"My family…is falling apart…a-and I can't do this any more-"

"What do you mean?" Kieran questioned, trying to look down at her.

"My mum's gone home dead upset, my dad is pissed off with me and James hates me-"

"He doesn't hate you, Lily. He loves you more than anything, and he just wants to protect you-"

"No," Lily sobbed. "I messed up everything. He hates me. He'll always hate me." Not sure what to say, Kieran wrapped his arms tighter around his girlfriend and kissed the top of her head.

"Come on, I'm still here," he said, after a few moments. "You've still got Sirius, and Michelle and Sarah."

"But everything i-is g-going wrong-" Kieran dipped his head to kiss her and then look into her eyes.

"We haven't gone wrong, and we won't. I'll be here for you whenever you need me, you know that." Lily nodded and let Kieran wipe her tears away before helping her to her feet.

"Now, let's go and get something to eat from the kitchens."

----

"Do they argue often then?" Lucas questioned, turning to look at Sirius. The twelve year old shrugged.

"Not that much. I mean…they have their little arguments, but that one last night was _far _worse than any that I've seen."

"Do you think Lily is alright?" Michelle questioned. "She seemed pretty upset when I went up to see her."

"She'll be fine. They'll forgive each other in a couple of days."

"You think?"

"No," Sirius replied, smiling. Michelle turned to look at him and he finished his sentence. "I hope." She rolled her eyes to show how stupid she thought he was being and then took a seat on the grass by the lake. It was Friday night, dinner had finished and the sun was still out, even if it was slightly chilly. Nothing could compare to sitting with her two friends in the sun and talking.

"So," Lucas said, laying beside her. "When are you two pairing yourselves up?" Sirius stopped dead in the middle of sitting down and stared, wide-eyed at his friend.

"W-what?" Lucas opened one of his eyes and stared at his two friends.

"Boyfriend? Girlfriend? You know, couples? I'm dating Charlotte, Lily is going out with Kieran, James has Anna. You're the only two people I know without dates to Hogsmeade next weekend."

"Well…I-I hardly think we need dates," Michelle replied, blushing.

"Yeah. Me and Michelle can just go together…" Sirius trailed off, realizing what he'd just said and his face turned the same colour as Michelle's. "I-I didn't mean it like that. I meant we can just go as friends."

"Sure there's not a hidden message in that sentence?" Lucas teased, unaware that Sirius was now feeling more uncomfortable than he ever had before.

"N-no, it just came out wrong. If you didn't have such a demented mind, maybe it _wouldn't _have a hidden message."

"Alright, stop arguing," Michelle interrupted. "I've had enough of that to last me a life time." Sirius apologized and lay down on the grass beside her, keeping one eye open to study her.

Her black hair flowed down to the midpoint of her back and contained a few golden tints. Although he couldn't see them, he knew that her eyes were a colour between blue and green, though he could never decide which.

"Alright, Lover-boy?" a voice asked behind him. Sirius sat up and spun round to glare at his older brother. Michelle looked too and Lucas said 'hello' without opening his eyes.

"Mind if I sit with you Lover-boy?" Michelle frowned and looked from one Potter boy to the other.

"Why are you calling him Lover-boy?" she questioned. James's face broke out into a grin and he looked round at her.

"Well, you see, there's this girl he likes, and it's pretty obvious to the rest of the world who it is, but he won't tell her. Silly, really," James replied. Sirius felt the heat rising to his face and decided that he needed to stop this conversation about his love life soon.

"You like someone?" Michelle asked, looking round at him.

"Uh…well…I err…you know…"

"Care to give us a name?"

"Mich-" Sirius clamped a hand over James' mouth and scowled as James' eyes shone with mirth. Michelle looked at the two of them suspiciously.

"One more word, and you'll regret it," Sirius warned. James didn't doubt that for a second and nodded quickly to show that he understood. Sirius moved his hand away slowly, ready to shove it back on if James decided to continue the sentence. Thankfully he didn't and Sirius lay back down on the grass.

"Where's Lily?" Lucas questioned. James snorted.

"Don't even talk to me about _her_." Sirius' eyes snapped open and locked onto Michelle's.

"You mean…you're still arguing?" she questioned. "Someone was under the impression that you'd both forgive each other-"

"Fat chance," James spat. "She couldn't stop being a selfish know-it-all long enough to do that-"

"Don't talk about her like that," Sirius argued, rolling onto his stomach so that he could look up at his brother. "It's not fair, really. We've only heard your side of the story."

"Whatever," James replied, getting to his feet.

"Where are you going?"

"I dunno, to drown myself hopefully. I'm sure everyone's lives will be brighter without me here-"

"James, don't-"

"See you tomorrow," he cut off, strolling off the Entrance Hall. Sirius considered going after him, but changed his mind at the last moment and rested his forehead on his hands. He felt someone place their hand on his back and instantly knew it was Michelle.

"Don't worry, like you said, they have to forgive each other sooner or later."

"Hmmm…" Sirius replied, enjoying the feeling of her hand rubbing his back, though it stopped all too soon for his liking.

"Come on, we need to finish our Divination Homework." Sirius grunted.

"Like I care how the planetary alignments effect a wizard's Birth date," Jacob replied, sitting up.

"Well, I don't care either," Michelle said. "But we still have to do it."

"It's Friday-"

"You are _not _leaving it until the last minute!"

"Alright, alright."


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N – This chapter wasn't actually going to happen, but I'm in a rather depressed, violent mood, so I just added it in for the hell of it…Sorry if you don't like it, I don't really expect many people to. **

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Seventeen**

Come Sunday evening, Lily was so depressed that Kieran actually had to drag her down to the Great Hall for dinner. Michelle was the first to speak when they sat down.

"Are you alright, Lily? You don't look so good."

"This is the longest James and I have gone without talking, and it's horrible," Lily replied, jabbing a piece of chicken with her fork, not planning on eating it any time soon. Michelle looked round at Sirius, who was staring at his older sister with nothing but concern shining in his bright green eyes.

"Lily, eat something," Kieran pleaded. She shook her head.

"I'm not hungry-"

"Look at me," he ordered. Lily turned her head to meet his gaze.

"You _cannot _starve yourself just because your brother refuses to talk to you." Lily held his gaze for a few moments before taking one bite out of a piece of chicken and climbing up from the table. Kieran made to follow but something in her glare told him not too and he promptly sat back down.

Twenty minutes later, she found herself sitting at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, looking out at the Black Lake, admiring the way the moon looked reflecting off it.

"Hello, my precious," a voice drawled behind her. Lily whipped round to see who it was and wasn't really too surprised when she spied Luther standing there, resting on a tree. Climbing to her feet, Lily glared at him.

"I'm not in the mood for this, Luther. Now bugger off and leave me alone." Lily turned round to leave, only to find three more Slytherin's blocking her way.

"That's not a very nice way for a lady to speak."

"That's not a very nice way for a guy to look. You could do permanent damage to my eyes if you're not careful," Lily replied. Luther's grin spread wider and he walked forward a little to stand in front of her.

"So, I heard about the Potter twins latest spat. It's a shame I couldn't have been there. I could have cheered you on." Lily glared at him, biting her cheek to stop herself from exploding. Luther took her silence as a queue to continue.

"Anyway, I was thinking, as I'm a…single guy," he said, brushing his hand lightly across her cheek, smiling when she turned her head away. "And I'm so deeply in love with you. I was thinking we should go on a little outing."

"I've had better offers, thank you very much," Lily spat, turning round to walk away. Two of the boys grabbed one of her arms each and pushed her back towards Luther.

"I was thinking we could start at Honeydukes, you know and I could treat you," Luther continued, as if he hadn't been interrupted. Lily stayed where she was, watching his every move.

"Then we could go to a shop of your choice, and after that we could come back here and I could invite you into my dorm-"

"I'd rather die." Luther looked up at her before taking the last few steps towards her and grabbing her arm roughly.

"You're beginning to hurt my feelings-"

"I'll hurt more than your feelings if you don't let me go this second," Lily warned, trying to pull her arm away. Luther had a firm grip on it though, so Lily didn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon.

"You have a right little temper there, don't you, sweetheart?"

"You haven't seen nothing, yet," Lily hissed. Ryan smirked and stepped closer.

"I like surprises," he whispered, huskily. Lily turned her head away in disgust.

"What'd you say we take a midnight stroll?" he continued, pulling her towards the forest. Lily's eyes flickered to look into the forest and then at Luther and she quickly pulled away, before turning round and sprinting off.

"Don't just stand there!" she heard Luther cry, and before she knew it, there were four Slytherin's chasing after her. Realizing that she wasn't going to make it to the school, Lily changed direction and ran straight into the forest, hoping to catch them off guard and slow them down. No such luck; they could dodge trees and jump over fallen logs as fast as she could and were rapidly gaining on her. Lily looked round in alarm and dodged one of them as they threw themselves at her. He fell into a puddle of mud, but Lily didn't stay long enough to find out how he reacted to that. It was only when she started running again that she realized she hadn't a clue where she was, and that they weren't following her any more. She must have lost them. Breathing a sigh of relief, she stepped forward, cautiously, not wanting to run into any of the creatures that were rumored to live in the forest.

She whipped round as she heard a twig snap only to be pushed violently to floor by the full weight of a body on top of her.

"It's not very nice to run away from me, now is it?" Ryan sneered, smirking. Lily tried to catch her breath after the run and glared up at him. Both her arms were pinned to the floor each side of her head and the other Slytherin's were standing in a circle around her, determined not to let her get away again.

"What is it with you?" Lily spat. "I _hate _you. What part of that don't you get?"

"I like a girl who plays hard to get. It makes it all the more satisfying when she gives in-"

"Well you're never going to find satisfaction with _me _because I will never do _anything _with you-"

"What do you think your boyfriend would say if he found you like this? Rather compromising position we're in." Lily glared at him for a few moments before trying to yank her arms away from him, to no avail.

"You're not going anywhere this time. Now, you're going to pay for kneeing me in the balls the other day." Lily let out a surprised squeak when she was pulled up off the ground and then cried out in pain when Ryan twisted her arm behind her back. The searing pain that shot through it was almost unbearable and she felt warm tears trickling down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry," Ryan whispered, putting his lips close enough to her ear for the breath to tickle it. "I know this hurts, but acts such as that cannot go unpunished." Lily swore her arm was about to brake and was relieved when Ryan let it go, spinning her round to face him once more, before backing her into a nearby tree.

"Now, just a little reminder of our nighttime trip. I wouldn't want you to forget the most memorable night of our lives, would I?" Fear flashed across Lily's face as he pulled out his wand, but he held her firmly enough to make sure that she couldn't move. Bringing his wand up to her cheek he muttered something under his breath. Pain shot through her jaw and she tried to pull away.

"It'll only hurt for a little while," Ryan assured, dragging the wand down her cheek to created a deep gash on it. "That was the first one. Now you and your brother match." Lily made to slap him, only to have her arm forced back down.

"This next one is from me." Ryan pulled her shirt collar down slightly before pressing his wand tip to her skin again and creating a gash in the shape of an 'R'.

"_Impedimenta_!" Lily's eyes snapped open in time to see two of the Slytherin's thrown violently to the side, while the other legged it into the forest as fast as he could. Ryan looked round in alarm, only to be hit straight it chest with the same curse and thrown backwards onto the ground. Unlike the two other's, he climbed back to his feet. Lily sunk down to the ground, holding her bleeding neck and sobbing.

"Aww…come to protect your sister, have you?" Ryan sneered, smiling at James. "You have matching cuts now. I made sure of that one."

"_Stupefy_!"

"_Protego_!" Ryan deflected James' spell easily and smiled at him before sending a few back. James, not even bothering to raise a shield, dodged them all and rolled under them before charging forward and smashing into Ryan with such force that it sent the two of them sprawling on the ground. James lost his wand first, but kept account of where it went. Ryan lost his a few seconds later after James' fist hit its target. They rolled over so that Ryan was on top, but James quickly retaliated by head-butting him and then rolling over again.

"Keep away from my sister," James threatened.

"You can't expect me to stay away from the love of my life-"

"You should aim for people who are at least in your league. A wild boar for instance." Ryan smirked and pushed James off him, before quickly climbing to his feet, kicking James in the chest when he went to stand up.

"Don't you think you've heard the last of this," he warned, his mouth twisting into a smirk. With his final word said, he grabbed his wand and dashed off into the forest. James considered running after him and finishing him off, but decided that Lily was more important and picked up his wand before crawling over to her.

"Are you alright?" he asked, looking her over with eyes that still weren't very accustomed to the dark. He saw Lily shake her head and quickly lit up his wand. Her shirt was soaked with blood from a deep cut in her neck and blood was flowing freely from a cut on her cheek too.

"I-I'm sorry I slapped you," Lily whispered, not opening her eyes to look at him.

"I'm sorry too," James replied. "Now, let's get you to the hospital wing and get you patched up." Lily nodded and let James haul her to her feet, suddenly feeling very lightheaded due to the loss of blood. She finally passed out half way there and James pocketed his wand before lifting her off her feet and carrying her the rest of the way.

**A/N – Now, because of my depressed mood, James wasn't going to come along like that, and he would storm into the Hospital Wing the next morning, but I changed my mind after re-reading it and toned it down a bit (taking out most of the un-necessary violence).**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Eighteen**

Lily woke up two hours later to find herself in the Hospital Wing. At first her vision was blurry and she couldn't make anything out, but soon, the ward came into focus and she blinked a few times to get used to the light. Then she actually went on to wondering why she was there, as seconds later the events of the night came flooding back to her, causing her to sit bolt up right in the bed and reach up to run her fingers lightly across her neck. She felt a few tears trickle down her cheek when she realized that she could clearly feel the mark Ryan had left there earlier. Kieran was standing on her right, looking at the mark too and without a word, he pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around her. She felt the bed dip beside her and another pair of arms wrap themselves around her. James.

Both the boys held Lily as she let out any remaining anger and hurt that she had left, and when she'd finally run out of tears and dried her face they let her go.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there," Kieran apologized. "I should have come after you after you left the Great Hall-"

"I would only have shouted at you," Lily replied, dismissively. Kieran looked like he was going to argue, but soon decided against the idea and nodded instead.

"I'm…" James trailed off and looked away from her for a minute before continuing. "I'm, sorry I got there a bit late." Lily looked at him incredulously.

"I…could have gotten there sooner. I _should _have got there sooner-" Lily cut him off by crawling across the bed and wrapping her arms around him. James buried his head in her shoulder.

"Don't blame yourself, it wasn't your fault. Besides, he only…you know…permanently scarred me for life." James' grip on her tightened.

"Don't worry. It wasn't really anything that bad. I mean…it hurt like hell, but I'll get over it." Lily pushed him away, to look him in the eye. "I'm just glad we're talking again." A grin spread across James' face.

"Why, did you miss me?" he joked.

"More than anything," Lily replied.

"Yeah, well…I missed you too." The three of them looked round as more people bundled into the ward.

"You only have an hour, visiting time is nearly over!" Madam Pomfrey called after them. Sirius and Michelle were the first to get to her bedside, Sarah and Harry trailing not far behind.

"What happened?" Harry demanded, looking at the two twins. Apparently he hadn't quite forgiven them for upsetting Hermione on Thursday.

"Nothing…I just-"

"Don't give me that," Harry snapped. Lily winced and James grabbed her hand. "Now, what happened?" Lily bit her lip, knowing Luther would make her life hell if she told any of the teachers what he'd done to her.

"I just…" Lily trailed off and looked down at the bed sheets.

"I was taking Lily flying to apologize to her and I lost control of the broom. We fell and Lily hurt herself," James replied, pathetically.

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" their dad asked, skeptically. James nodded.

"Well, if that's the case, you were out after hours and you both receive a detention tomorrow night after dinner. I'll be waiting for you in my office." Lily and James looked at each other and then back round at their dad, disbelievingly. Harry rushed out of the ward, leaving the teens in stunned silence.

"Well…that went well," James muttered, sarcastically.

----

"I recon everyone in my family is just annoyed with everyone else at the moment," Sirius said, following Michelle through the corridors of Hogwarts. The two of them were heading to the Black Lake to meet everyone else.

"You think it'll all work out?" Michelle questioned.

"I hope so. I'm just glad it's not me in the main firing line like it usually is-"

"Oh look, it's the love birds." Sirius stopped dead and whipped round to glare at the group of Slytherin's behind him. Luther stood there, flanked by his four goonies.

"What do you want?" Sirius spat.

"No need to get lippy. I was just wondering where your sister was." Sirius balled his fists and Michelle grabbed his arm to pull him away. Luther smirked as he watched them go before shouting after them.

"Tell her I hope she liked her present and that I love her!" Sirius whipped round, pulling his wand out of his pocket in the process and pointing at Luther. The Slytherin smirked and pulled out his own, firing a spell at Sirius. He wasn't fast enough to react, but Michelle drew her own and quickly shot the spell back at its caster.

"Oh, I see you've got a few tricks up your sleeve," Luther drawled, smirking.

"You'll bet I have," Michelle spat, blocking another spell as it was thrown at them. They traded a few more spells and choice words before all three of them were disarmed. Harry stood at the doors to the Great Hall, glaring at them.

"The three of you will be joining everyone else for detentions tomorrow night. Now stop dueling the corridors."

----

Sirius threw himself of the grass a few minutes later, slightly calmer after a lecture from his best friend.

"Alright, lover-boy?" James questioned, slapping him on the back. Kieran smirked and Lily rolled her eyes.

"Leave him be, James."

"Fine, spoil all my fun." Michelle looked at the four of them curiously.

"So, who's this girl that you fancy, Sirius?" Lucas questioned. The twelve year old blushed terribly and his eyes flashed to look at Michelle.

"Well, she's one of his very good friends, see," James replied, laying on his stomach on the grass and propping his head on hands.

"James, shut up," Sirius warned, blushing even more.

"He's known her for quite a long time. Before Hogwarts as it were," James continued. Michelle only lived round the corner from them and the two of them had always been best friends. They had all been rather surprised when she'd received a letter inviting her to Hogwarts, both her parents being muggles and all.

"James!"

"They're still pretty close actually-"

"Would you shut up!" Sirius shouted, his face the same colour as a post box. James smirked.

"Well, I was only giving your mate an honest answer-"

"Well he doesn't need an answer! Just drop it!"

"Well, I mean…come on, Lucas and _Michelle _know everything about you. What harm would it do for them to know the girls name too?"

"It would do all the harm in the world and you know it-"

"Alright, boys, calm down," Lily said, yanking James backwards by his collar. "Sirius doesn't want them to know, so stop interfering."

"Thank you!" Sirius cried, running a hand nervously through his hair. James rested back against the tree looking awfully put out.

"Fine then," he said. "I'll make you a deal. You tell her by Christmas and I won't interfere-"

"James-"

"If you haven't told her. I'm taking matters into my own hands. Deal?"

"B-but-"

"Deal?"

"Fine! Deal! Whatever! Just stop bugging me!" Sirius shouted shaking James' out-stretched hand. The fifteen year old leant back against the tree, pleased with himself and completely ignoring the death glares being sent at him by Lily and Sirius. Michelle was looking from one boy to the other, thoroughly confused and extremely suspiciously.

----

It wasn't until five minutes before their detention that it dawned on Sirius to tell James and Lily that he'd gotten Luther into the detention with them. James ranted all the way there, moaning about how he'd like to rip the Slytherin's head off, while Lily kept quiet. Harry was already there when they arrived and ordered them all to take a seat. Luther arrived a few minutes later, and when his eyes landed on Lily his face broke into a grin and he took the seat beside her. Lily got up to move, but Harry chose that moment to stand up and look out at them.

"Well, all three of my kids in detention in one go, that's rather disappointing. James, Lily, you have until the end of the detention to tell me what happened in the forest the other night. You three, I want an essay on why it's dangerous to duel in the corridors. I'll be back in twenty minutes and I'll only be in my office. I don't want any of you arguing." Harry disappeared through the door at the top of the stairs and left it open behind him. He was clearly talking to someone and Lily guessed that it was their mum.

"Lily-"

"Piss off," Lily hissed before Luther had even got his sentence out.

"I was just going to ask if I could borrow a piece of parchment. I didn't bring any-"

"Well you should have thought about that before you came, shouldn't you?" Luther turned back to the front of the room and reached under the table to place his hand on Lily's thigh. He watched as she clenched her fists on the table and leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"I see you didn't tell your dad about our midnight stroll. Are you being protective of me?"

"I didn't tell him, because my life would be no better off if I did. You wanted to get me back for kneeing you in the balls. I don't want you extracting revenge on me for everything-"

"I would never do that. I just wanted to give you a present back," Luther replied, moving his hand further up her leg. Lily brushed it off with her own and moved away from him. Luther followed her.

"Would you get lost," she hissed, not even looking round.

"What did everyone think of your present by the way? Does daddy approve?" Lily kept her mouth shut and her eyes flickered to meet James', sending him a pleading look. All he could do was glare at the Slytherin beside her. Luther put his hand back in its previous position and squeezed her leg.

"Daddy doesn't know, though, does he? That thing is almost as bad a tattoo. It isn't going anywhere anytime soon and neither are you. We've got a whole hour for conversation." James continued to look at the two of them, his eyes narrowed to slits and Lily could see it was taking all his will power to stay in his chair and not punch the lights out of Luther. Sirius seemed to be having similar problems and probably would have jumped to his feet if Michelle didn't have hold of his shirt. She knew they could both see Luther's hand under the table and quickly pushed it off again.

"What should I get you for Christmas?" Ryan questioned, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Lily tried to shrug him off, but he wouldn't budge.

"Oh well…I'll just have to surprise you then, won't I?" he asked, letting his free hand rest on her waist. He looked towards Harry's office before leaning forward.

"Maybe I should wrap myself up as a present to you," he whispered, flicking his tongue against the top of her ear. Lily finally snapped when she felt his hand snake under her top.

"Luther, get off me!" she shouted, pushing him away as hard as she could and jumping up from her chair, sending it flying back to the ground. Luther rose to his feet and made to touch her again, only to have his hand swatted away. James had jumped up too and Sirius and Michelle were both glaring at the Slytherin, all daring him to make another move. Harry rushed into the room and was about to say something when Lily's voice cut him off.

"Touch me again," Lily threatened.

"Is that an offer?" Luther replied, smirking and reaching out with his hand to let it rest on her waist. Lily moved so that it slipped off and then slapped his other away when he went to imitate the action. Reacting on instinct, Luther pulled out his wand and pointed it at her throat, moving her shirt down to reveal the scar he'd left there. Harry watched the scene unfold from the door way, unsure what he was meant to do and was quickly joined by his wife.

"Maybe this should have been your Christmas present. It took me a while to figure out that spell-"

"Well it was a waste of your time." Luther's eyes flashed dangerously and he moved his wand to press up into her throat before firmly pressing his lips to hers. Lily tried to yank her head away, only to have Luther push it back towards his. Luther forced his tongue into her mouth and felt the need to laugh at how much effort she was putting into getting away from him.

James and Sirius were about to charge forward when Harry finally came to his senses, and pulled out his own wand and disarming Luther, who jumped away in surprise. Lily slapped him across the face as soon as she could.

"You bastard!" Lily shouted.

"Better a bastard than a slut," Luther sneered. "Shame I didn't have a camera. I wonder how Longbottom would react to that?"

"You're disgusting. You're vile and cruel and you deserve to be in Azkaban with your mother!" Luther grabbed her arm.

"Don't you talk about my mother," he warned.

"Don't you touch me," Lily said, pulling away from him.

"What'll you do about it? Enjoy the kiss much?"

"You-"

"ENOUGH!" Harry shouted. Everyone turned to look at him as if only just realizing that he was there. The room fell silent and Harry rushed down the stairs towards Lily, glaring at her for a moment before pulling down her shirt with his own wand to look at the mark on it. Lily looked up at her dad worriedly, tears brimming in her eyes. Harry whipped round to face Luther.

"Did you do this?"

"I thought she deserved payment for kneeing me,_ sir_."

"Right, you-"

"Harry," Hermione scolded from the doorway. Everyone turned to look at her.

"You're going to go and get Albus now, I'll look after these five."

"But-"

"You'll only do something stupid, now go." Harry looked back round at Luther.

"If I may say so, _sir_, your whole family seems to be ruled by women." Resisting the urge to hex the student in front of him, Harry left the room, muttering under his breath.

"Sit down, all of you." They obeyed and James took up the seat beside Lily and hugged her while she wiped away her tears. Hermione spent the next eight minutes sitting on Harry's desk, glaring at Luther, who was leaning back in his chair whistling. Michelle was trying to calm Sirius down and stop him from hexing the 5th year Slytherin. Harry reappeared in the room a few minutes later, ordering Luther to go to Dumbledore's office and rounded on his kids as soon as the boy left.

"What the _hell _is going on?"

"Dad…w-we couldn't tell you…Luther…he would have-"

"Don't give me that rubbish!" Harry shouted slamming his fist down on the table. Lily and James jumped and backed their chairs up.

"Why the _hell _didn't you tell me what was going on? After all this stuff, after everything, you don't think you can _trust _me? Trust us?"

"Harry, I think you're taking this a little bit over the top," Hermione interrupted.

"No I'm not, gad-damn it! You should have told me what was going on with _him_! I don't understand why you would keep something like that from me!" James jumped up from the table, glaring at his dad.

"Did you go and tell a professor when Malfoy picked on mum?" he shouted back. Harry closed his mouth with a snap.

"How about all those times you told us he called her a Mudblood? Huh? What about that?"

"That's very different-"

"How, dad? Maybe if you stopped being such a short tempered prick you'd realize it wasn't much different. You tell us what good it would do to come and tell you Luther was harassing Lily! Go on!" Deciding the shouting fest had gone on for long enough, Hermione grabbed Harry's arm and pushed him gently into one of the chairs.

"I suggest that all of you calm down and go back to your dorms. Albus will deal with Luther. I don't want to hear about any more dueling in the corridors or run-ins with Slytherin's." Hermione, on finishing her little lecture, grabbed her husbands arm and pulled him into his office.

James hadn't calmed down much and the three of them had to drag him out of the room to stop him from following his parents and finishing the argument.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N – Someone asked me if Luther can get killed off. The answer's no, but I've added an extra chapter in just for you and anyone else out there who hates the guys guts. It should be up within the next day or so, and I hope you like it because it took me a bloody long time to write it:P**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Nineteen**

The last two months of school passed without incident. Other than the occasional round of abuse-throwing between the Slytherin's and Gryffindor's, November and December were pretty uneventful. The only reason Luther hadn't been expelled was because of his dad's high status in the Ministry. He was walking on thin ice with most of the teachers though, especially Harry.

Lily and Kieran were currently sitting in their Common Room finishing off their homework that had been set by Harry to be in for the lesson closest to Christmas **(A/N – Back in chapter 15).**

"I love Christmas," James said, smiling as he sat down beside his sister and her boyfriend.

"Why?" Kieran questioned, raising an eyebrow. James opened his mouth, but Lily cut him off.

"He has three reasons. The first is that he can go home and see Anna. The second is that it's actually time to open presents, and the third is something to do with his deal with Sirius."

"You read my mind-"

"That's because after fifteen years of living with you, I know _exactly _how your sick, twisted mind works." James smirked.

"Yes, well, Sirius hasn't got long to tell Michelle that he likes her before I tell her-"

"You'll do no such thing. You'll leave the two of them alone to sort it out-"

"But you know as well as I do that he probably won't tell her until their in their 7th year-"

"Then so be it, but if you interfere James Potter, I _will _kill you," Lily threatened, glaring at him.

"Can't I just interfere teensie bit?" he begged.

"No."

"A teeny _weeny _bit?"

"No, James."

"A really, really, _really_ tiny bit?"

"No!"

"A really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really-"

"Oh for Merlin's sake! Maybe, alright? It depends on how you define 'Interfering'." James smiled and turned his attention to Kieran.

"Can you make it to ours on Christmas day?" he asked.

"Uh…James, we _always _come to yours on Christmas day-"

"Good. Your boyfriend can come. Conveniently, my girlfriend is free too, now, where did I see her?" James muttered, loud enough for his twin to hear. Scanning the heads of the crowd in the Common Room, James finally came across a familiar face and, smiling to himself, called her over.

"James," Lily growled, watching the Second Year student walk towards them. "What are you-"

"What did you want, James?" Michelle questioned, holding her book to her chest.

"Do you have spare time on Christmas day?"

"Uh…I suppose so-"

"Do you think your parents would like to come over to ours? I mean, you haven't been over for Christmas in quite some time."

"They should be able to make it, Sirius already invited me-"

"Oh, good," James replied, brightly, earning him an extra fierce glare from his sister. "Well, I just wanted to make sure you'd be there. It wouldn't be a proper celebration without everyone, would it?"

"Uh…I suppose not. Well, I'm meeting Sirius and Lucas in the Library, I'll see you all later." Michelle disappeared through the portrait hole with a wave.

"What are you up to?" Kieran questioned, as soon as she'd gone.

James, completely ignoring him, continued to talk to himself, "I wonder how you enchant mistletoe-"

"Oh, no! You are _not _enchanting mistletoe," Lily interrupted, putting her book down on her lap.

"Oh yes I am-"

"There is _no way _I am letting you enchant _anything-_"

"Alright, alright," James replied, sinking back into the chair again. A few minutes passed before he smiled evilly and looked up at his sister.

"I'm still calling him 'Lover-boy' though."

----

Michelle arrived outside the Library a few minutes later, to find Sirius there without Lucas.

"I thought you said both of you needed help with your Transfiguration homework?"

"Oh, well…Lucas actually uh…found…someone to help him with it," Sirius replied, lamely. Michelle frowned.

"So…why didn't they help you?"

"Because it was uh…it was a…girl…and Lucas wanted to spend some time _alone _with her."

"Oh, right."

"Yeah." The two of them stood there in silence for a moment, before Sirius coughed and pushed open the door to the library, bowing deeply.

"Ladies first," he joked, fixing his eyes onto hers. Michelle smiled and ruffled his hair as she walked past, earning a snort of laughter from him. The two of them sat down on the furthest table from the door, trying to escape any noise students made as they passed it. Sirius looked up at Michelle nervously, fighting a losing battle in his mind as to whether he should tell her or not. On the one hand, he'd arranged everything so that he would be alone with Michelle. Lucas really had done his homework, thanks to a Hufflepuff whom he had pleaded to help him out. Also, if he didn't tell her before Christmas day, James would tell her anyway.

On the _other _hand, if he told her and she didn't like him back, he'd look like a complete fool and be responsible for ruining a life long friendship.

"Earth to Sirius! Are you going to stare at me all day or are you going to get out your books?" Michelle questioned, waving a hand in front of his face. Sirius blinked a few times before turning bright red and sinking down in his chair.

"Sorry, my mind wandered."

"Clearly," Michelle replied, smirking. "Your mind seems to wander a lot these days." Sirius blushed even more and put his books down on the table in between them. Michelle continued to smile and reached down for the rest of her things, but stopped instantly when Sirius grabbed her hand to stop her.

"Look, Michelle…" As soon as she looked up at him, his mind went blank.

"Sirius?"

"I um…y-you wanted to know about girl I fancied, right?"

"Well, I-I don't-"

"I'm ready to tell you who it is now." Sirius looked down at their hands and lifted them up to rest on the table between them.

"I don't mind if you don't tell me," Michelle replied. "It doesn't really have anything to do with me-"

"But it does," Sirius interrupted. "It's got everything to do with you. I _need _to tell you who it is." Michelle gave him a few minutes to continued, but when he didn't say anything, she did instead.

"Well?"

"Look…I…don't have a clue how I'm meant to tell you this. Surely from the clues James has given you, you must have _some _sort of an idea of who it is."

"Yeah, I have one person in mind."

"Who?" Sirius questioned, risking a glance up at her. Michelle looked away.

"Well, she's someone who you've been best friends with since before Hogwarts and who you're still best friends with. There's only really one person I know who fits that description." Sirius smiled and looked back down at the table, surprised when Michelle intertwined her hand with his.

"Well, you should know that she feels the same way," Michelle said, blushing.

"She does?" Michelle nodded.

"So, would she like to go out with me?"

"I think she would love to." Sirius wrapped his other hand around their joined ones, not lifting his eyes to meet her gaze, so he was mildly surprised when she leaned across the table and kissed his cheek. Needless to say, he was smiling for the remainder of their study session.

The two of them walked back to Gryffindor Common Room holding hands. They found Lily and Kieran on the sofa by the fire. They had been talking but stopped instantly when they saw Michelle and Sirius. Lily's eyes flickered to look at their joined hands and she smiled.

"Don't let James see you. He'll be terribly upset." Sirius smiled and wrapped his arm around Michelle's waist as they both fell down onto the sofa next to Kieran.

"Where is he?" Michelle asked.

"Plotting," Kieran and Lily replied together.

"And by plotting – you mean?"

"Thinking up some horrid way to get the two of you together," Lily replied. "He didn't think you'd say anything." Sirius looked round at the stairs leading up to the boys dormitory as he heard James' voice and pulled his arm away from Michelle's waist.

"Let's play along, just for the hell of it," he suggested, smiling and moving along the couch a little. Michelle and Lily nodded and Kieran laughed lightly. A few seconds later, James threw himself down next to Sirius.

"Alright, Lover-boy?"

"Stop calling me that!" Sirius cried in mock exasperation. Lily covered her mouth with her hand to hide her smile and Michelle picked a book from her bag to hide behind.

"So, what are we all up to?" James asked, eager to strike up a conversation.

"Dad's essay-"

"Dad set an essay?" James questioned, alarmed.

"Yes, James, in September, the one about animagus forms?"

"Bugger, I'd forgotten all about that. Hand us a piece of parchment."

"No," Lily said, pulling the spare pieces on the table away from him as he went to grab them. "Get your own or pay up. Parchment doesn't come cheap you know." James clicked his tongue and pulled a galleon from his pocket, slamming it into Lily's outstretched hand. She smiled mockingly before handed over some parchment.

"Right, now, what was it? Three people closest to you – choose them an animagus form. Does it count if we do Mum and Dad?" James asked, hopefully.

"No, James, they already _have _animagus form. That would be considered cheating."

"Bugger. Right then, I'll do Sirius, you and Anna-"

"And you'd be able to think of a form for Anna after such a short amount of time?" Lily questioned.

"Yes, as a matter-of-fact, I would."

"Come on then," Lily challenged, turning to face him. "What would Anna, Sirius and I be?"

"Well," James began, leaning forward in his chair. "Sirius would easily be a fox – cunning, sly and quick."

"Keep going."

"You'd be…a cat, I suppose."

"Do I even want to know why?" Lily asked, arching an eyebrow.

"_Well_, you're very independent, just like a cat."

"Fair enough, continue."

"And you're very stubborn-"

"I _am not_!" Lily insisted. Sirius turned his laugh into a cough and covered his mouth with his hand, whilst Michelle buried her head further into her book. Lily sent them both a look which clearly said 'be nice to me or I'll spoil your fun'. They promptly stopped laughing.

"And Anna; Anna would be Lioness-"

"What? Why?"

"Well, Lion's have this tendency to be King or Queen of the Jungle, and Anna was in charge with her group of friends. Lions also represent bravery, and she was braver than I was when it came to asking one another out."

"Hmm…I suppose you have a point."

"Who'd you choose then, sis?"

"Well, you, of course, Sirius and Kieran."

"Hmmm…what was I?"

"A falcon," Lily replied. James rubbed his chin thoughtfully, trying to figure out why his sister would have chosen this particular animal for him; He came up with a blank.

"Share."

"Well, Falcon's are generally known for their speed and agility, and I thought that was fitting seeing as you were Gryffindors Keeper. They're very observant, which I know you are no matter how dense you may seem at times, and they keep a close watch on their prey."

"My prey being?"

"Luther," everyone replied together.

"Hmm…good choice. How about Lover-Boy?"

"_Sirius _was a fox for me too. That was the easiest one to come up with actually."

"And Kieran?"

"A wolf."

"I like this," Kieran interjected. "I think it just about sums me up."

"He's quiet, hardly ever seen and always moves around in a pack-"

"His pack being us, yeah?" James asked, pointing round to each other them in turn.

"Exactly. Wolves…never really were too – what was the word you used to describe Lily? – independent," Kieran added, smirking. "Rely on the rest of the pack for help. Which is exactly what I do with you guys I think."

"I suppose so," James replied, nodding his head.

"The way he communicates is also easy to recognize, like it is with wolves," Lily continued.

"What'd you mean?"

"Well, he may not express it too often, but you can tell when he's angry easily and the things he does always give away how he's feeling, like his facial expressions and such. It's easy to do that with wolves. Like when they flatten their ears against their head, you can tell they're suspicious or afraid."

"I think I get your point, and once again, good choice." Lily smiled proudly and returned to her parchment.

"You know," she said after a few moments of silence. "It would have been easy to do Luther." Everyone looked up at her with a certain amount of disgust evident in each of their faces.

"Someone you're _close _to, Dad said," James replied.

"Yeah, that's what put me off."

"What would you have made him then?" Kieran questioned, genuinely interested.

"Have a few guesses. It's not that difficult," Lily offered, leaning back in her chair to watch their puzzled expressions.

"He'd be a snake," Michelle said, eventually.

"Exactly."

"What? Because he's in Slytherin?" James asked, obviously not impressed.

"No you, wombat," Lily scoffed, hitting his arm gently. "Because snakes are considered to be the mark of evil. They're cunning and - as much as I don't want to admit Luther is – clever."

"Oh…Yeah I suppose that makes sense." Lily nodded her agreement.

"Speaking of Luther," Sirius interrupted. "I've been thinking. We should give the guy a departing gift." James' face lit up and even Lily looked a little amused at the idea.

"What did you have in mind?"


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N – Here's the chapter for everyone who hates Luther. I had a hard time thinking of what to do to him, but this is what I came up with, and I didn't think it was too bad… **

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Twenty**

It wasn't until the last week of school that Luther's detentions finally eased up, and he only had to put up with two hours of sitting in McGonagall's Office on a Sunday night. He'd been banned from Quidditch for the remainder of the term and if he so much as went within 5 meters of Lily, he'd be issued an all day Saturday detention. Hogsmeade visits had also been cut out for him and the only time he was allowed down to the village was if he needed school supplies. Needless to say, he was thoroughly pissed off with Lily Potter.

He got down to the Great Hall early for breakfast, hoping not to run into any of the Potter's. Luck was clearly not on his side, however as all three were already seated around Gryffindor table, talking merrily. James saw him first and scowled, daring him to come any closer. Sirius turned round next, and although he sent the Slytherin a dirty look, there was a trace of a smile. Luther clenched his fists and marched over to his House table.

"Right on time," Sirius said, looking back round at his siblings.

"He has absolutely _no idea _what is coming to him," James added, digging his fork deep into a piece of bacon. Lily failed to keep back her smile and looked down at her plate to hide it.

"Pay back time," Sirius whispered next to her, only making her smile grow wider. She gave up hiding and looked towards the doors to the Great Hall, just in time to see Kieran and Michelle arrive. Kieran sat down next to Lily after giving her a quick kiss and Michelle sat down next to Sirius, both looking rather put out at the idea that they couldn't do anything whilst James was there. Lily decided to help them out a little by kicking her brother under the table.

"Ow…what'd you do that for?" James cried, turning round to look at her. Michelle smiled at Lily and Sirius quickly kissed her cheek while he had time. Lily resisted the temptation to roll her eyes and turned back to her twin instead.

"I just wanted to make sure you remembered everything."

"Of course I did," James replied, indignantly.

"If you say so."

"So, did you two get everything done?" Sirius interrupted, trying to avoid another argument that would have started because of him and Michelle.

"Yeah. We ran into a spot of trouble in your Dad's class," Michelle replied.

"Why? What happened?"

"Well…he was in there," Kieran answered. Sirius looked between the two, some what confused.

"So…how did you set it all up?"

"He let us."

"He let you?" the three Potters questioned, looking at Kieran and Michelle in amazement.

"Yeah," Kieran replied, shrugging. "At first he was kind of against the idea, but when we told him it was Luther's 'Christmas present', he happily obliged and promised to try not to give us a detention-"

"Hold on, slow down," James said. "I'm still trying to get over the 'he let you do it' part and now you're telling me he won't give you a detention. It's all too much to take in at once." Everyone round the table laughed and Lily threw a piece of her bacon at him.

"Stop being a prat. The morning post is here." The five of them looked round and smiled as they saw the owls arrive with the post. Their eyes all followed one certain bird that swooped down over Slytherin table, dropping a note directly in front of Luther. The Slytherin looked at it for a moment, slightly confused as to why anyone would want to send him post and then reached out to pick it up. The second his hand came into contact with it however, it sprouted arms, legs and a mouth and bit him. Luther yanked his hand back and watched as the letter jumped onto a bowl of cereal, singing.

"_Luther has an empty head,_

_Luther always wets the bed." _

Luther made a wild grab for the letter, but it slipped through his fingers and the bowl of cereal tipped over, sending its contents flying over Luther's robes. James and Sirius were the first to start laughing and it didn't take long for the other three to catch on.

"_Luther is so stupid, _

_He wears the stupid hat,_

_And when he saw the Quaffle,_

_He said I'm having that. _

_He missed it with his left hand, _

_He missed it with his right,_

_And when he's playing Gryffindor,_

_He misses it all night!" _

The letter let out a short laugh and hopped between plates of food, grabbing them and throwing them in Luther's direction to slow him down. The rest of the Great Hall had exploded in laughter by this time, and a few teachers had appeared to find out what was going on.

"_Luther is a moron, _

_He don't know what to do. _

_His head is full of sawdust,_

_And he always smells of poo!" _

As if to emphasize the point, the letter jumped onto the shoulder of the nearest student and held their nose, batting away an invisible smell with it's free hand. Luther eyed the letter carefully and pounced across the table for it, missing it by inches as it leapt from the students shoulder and ran across the floor towards the teachers table. Luther swore and then seconds later smashed into his fellow Slytherin, sending the two of them sprawling on the floor. Luther was up first, darting after the letter which was still singing merrily from the top of Dumbledore's chair.

"_Luther is an ugly git, _

_Luther is a stupid twit. _

_Luther is a spineless girl,_

_Doesn't his face want to make you hurl?" _

Once again the letter dived off the chair and headed for Gryffindor table, hopping along between people's breakfasts. Luther jumped onto the table after it, making a wild grab and missed it by miles. The letter turned round and poked its tongue out at him before taking off down the table again. Luther jumped up and followed it.

"_Here's comes fat old Luther, _

_Fat as fat could be. _

_Needs to loose a lot of weight, _

_Coz Luther can't catch me!"_

Luther made a wild dive for the letter and unfortunately, his hand wrapped around its leg. This only made the letter angry however, and it picked up James' plate of breakfast and hurled it at his attacker, shouting a few choice words at him. Luther held on, fending off the flying plates of breakfast with his free hand, and when the letter finally ran out of things to throw, Luther picked it up and tore it in half. The letter let out a little squeal and then exploded of its own accord. Luther looked around the Hall before finally realizing where he was laying. Lily was already looking at him when he looked up. He glared at her and then Kieran beside her. Lily smiled and picked up her boyfriends plate, adding a few eggs to it and then dumping it on Luther's head. The silent Hall roared with laughter once more and Lily bent down to whisper in the Slytherin's ear.

"Merry Christmas."

----

Luther had been late to their Potions Lesson as he had needed to clean himself up and had refused the help of teachers who offered to cast a cleaning charm on him. Lily and James fought back their laughter as he entered the room and quickly busied themselves with cutting up the plant they had been given to add to their potion. A few of the Slytherin girls turned round to glare at them, obviously upset by the lack of respect shown for their favorite Slytherin. Lily's only response was to smile sweetly at them.

"Are you going to do it, or am I?" James whispered beside her.

"You do it, I'll probably get caught," Lily replied, handing her brother a tub of purple powder. James smiled and twisted the lid open before taking a pinch out of it and giving it back to his twin. Lily put it in her pocket and pulled out her wand, hiding it under the table and pointing it at something on the opposite side of the class. Nothing was really aimed at, but a few bottles exploded, sending the class into a fit of panic. Most people ducked down behind their tables and covered their heads, and whilst they were distracted, James hurried across to the Slytherin table and sprinkled the dust on a still intact plant.

By the time the Potions teacher finally regained control of his class, James was back in his seat, waiting for their plan to take action. The first phase came quickly as one of the Slytherin girls tried to cut up the plant. It instantly sprouted a face and began screeching, warding her off with its 'arms'. The agitated Slytherin tried to grab it and cut it up again, but only succeed in having the knife torn from her hands and thrown across the classroom. The plant wasted no time at all in running over to Luther, jumping on his head and planting itself there firmly, reluctant to move no matter how much people pulled and tugged it.

One girl who tried to help had something rather revolting looking spat in her face as the plant defiantly screamed, "Piss off, slut! He's mine!" Luther looked at the girl horrified and then tried to pull the plant off his head, but only succeeded in making it grip onto him even tighter. The class was in hysterics by this time and the Potions teacher had given up trying to regain control of the class and had instead resorted to trying to pull the plant off Luther's head.

"Only one more part to go," Lily said, giving her brother a high five as he held up his hand. As soon as she'd done so however, there came a cry of: "How dare you touch my Luthiekins!" and the two of the held onto each other for support as they dissolved into laughter again.

----

Even after a visit to Madam Pomfrey the plant had defiantly remained on Luther's head and the trip to the Hospital Wing meant that he was now late for his Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. He had hoped to get into the class unnoticed by most of the students, but Harry instantly turned all attention to him the second he opened the door.

"Luther, so glad you could make it to my lesson. I'm glad your new girlfriend didn't object to my teaching you." The plant on his head let out a little shriek of annoyance and the class started laughing. Harry silenced them – although a smirk was evident on his face – and ordered the Slytherin into his seat.

"Final phase, eh?" Kieran whispered to his girlfriend. Lily snickered and leaned back in her chair as her dad began to speak.

"I hope you all have the essays that were in for today about your friend's animagus forms?" he asked, looking round at the class. Everyone nodded and Harry looked at Kieran, his smile growing wider with every passing second.

"Perhaps we could have a few examples of what people chose?" Lily, Kieran and James's hands all shot up.

"James, who did you choose?"

"I chose Sirius."

"And what characteristics of his did you use to choose him an animal?"

"His speed and agility, his cunning and his wariness."

"And what animal did you make him?" Harry asked. A smile spread across James's face and he looked round at Luther.

"I made him a fox." The Slytherin let out a yelp of surprise when he found himself sporting a very bushy tail that somewhat resembled that of a fox. The class looked round at him and then everyone began laughing.

"Okay class, quiet, quiet. Now, Kieran, can you give us another example, please?"

"I chose Lily."

"And you made her?"

"A cat." Everyone looked round at Luther again as the 5th year grew a large pair of cat ears either side of his head.

"And Lily?" Harry continued, barely containing his laughter.

"I chose Kieran."

"And you made him?"

"A wolf." Luther let out a small whimper as he watched his hands change into paws.

"Does anyone else have an example they'd like to share?" Harry asked, looking round the class. This time, everyone's hand shot up, eager to make Luther into the most ridiculous animal they could.

"A phoenix!"

"A monkey!"

"A lion!"

"A-"

"I think that'll be enough class. Do you require any assistance, Mr. Luther?" The class looked round to find that the Slytherin had now grown a pair of phoenix wings, two monkey ears below his cat ones and a nice set of teeth.

"Maybe I should go and get Madam Pomfrey. Class, please watch Luther and make sure he doesn't do anything too…aggressive." The class went into another bout of laughter and it wasn't until they'd finally stopped that Lily rose from her seat. She walked over to Luther's desk slowly and leaned across it so that she was face to face with him.

"How does payback feel, _Ryan_?"

He let out a low growl in the back of his throat and then managed to spit out, "I knew it was you-"

"Well who else would it have been? With four brothers, I have some pretty cool tricks up my sleeve." Luther's mouth twisted into a snarl and he made to stand up, only to have the chair come with him.

"Muggle trick that one," Lily said, smirking. "Don't suppose you've ever heard of glue?" The Muggle-Born students in the class snickered when they realized what had happened and Luther just looked thoroughly pissed off which made the plant on his head screech at Lily. She didn't back up however, only stroked the plant, which then instantly fell back to sleep.

Everyone looked round as they heard Harry's voice carry down the corridor and Lily blew Luther a kiss before turning round to go back to her seat. She seemingly thought better of it though because she turned round and rubbed one of his fox ears.

"Cute ears by the way. They definitely suit you." Luther growled again in annoyance and Lily happily walked back to her seat. Kieran wrapped an arm round her shoulder and kissed her cheek, seconds before Harry and Madam Pomfrey walked into the room.

"My God! I thought you said he had, had a _few _alterations to his appearance!" Madam Pomfrey cried. Luther pulled out his wand and pointed it at his chair, detaching himself from it. He stood up angrily.

"They did it! It was them idiots! They did _all _of it!" he shouted, pointing at Lily and Kieran.

"You're so full of crap," Lily scoffed as Kieran pulled her closer. "Why would we waste perfectly good pranks on _you_?"

"Stop it. Now, you come with me, we need to sort you out." Madam Pomfrey pushed Luther ahead of her out the door and as soon as he was out of sight everyone burst into fits of laughter again.

"The look on his face," James said, burying his face in his hands.

"Priceless," Lily added.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N – ****I didn't forget about you guys! I'm sooooo sorry, this took so long. I've had it finished for ages, but I dislocated my shoulder (just don't ask) and my mum wouldn't let me on the computer!**

**It's not going to be a very long chapter, so sorry to all those who hoped for something more. **

**I can't believe I've finally finished it. I've been writing this and Together Forever for over a year now, and it's sad to finish them both. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed. I'm glad you all liked it. **

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter or anything from the magical world. However, I own the plot of this story!**

**Chapter Twenty-One**

Thomas and Marcus rushed into their parent's room on Christmas morning and leapt on the bed excitedly. Sirius rushed into the room next closely followed by Lily and James, the last two of which waited at the door.

"Wake up! It's Christmas!" Thomas shouted, bouncing on the bed. Harry groaned and buried his face in his pillow, pulling the covers over his head in an attempt to block out the noise.

"Daaaaaad!" Marcus whined, pulling the covers down. Harry buried his face in his pillow.

"It's seven in the morning," he moaned, looking over at the clock beside the bed. Hermione slapped the back of his head.

"Get up, you lazy git," she ordered, sitting herself up in their bed and pulling Marcus off him. Harry mumbled something into his pillow and Hermione looked at him disapprovingly.

"If what you just said contained any swearwords, I'm going to slap you, Harry."

"No dear, of course not," Harry replied, looking up at her.

"Daddy!" Marcus cried, launching himself back at his father. Harry caught him and smiling, held him up in the air.

"Everyone's going to be here in an hour, mum, you both need to get up," Lily said from the doorway.

"It's seven already?" Hermione asked, picking up her watch from the bedside table.

"Yes," James replied for her. Harry looked round at his wife as she stretched and kissed her stomach as her top rode up.

"Merry Christmas, son," Harry whispered, kissing her belly again before pushing himself onto his elbows to kiss her mouth. Marcus and Thomas covered their eyes with an 'ew' and Harry chuckled before pulling away.

"There's going to be a lot of kissing today, boys," Hermione announced, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "Kieran and Anna will both be here." Lily and James both blushed and looked away from their parents.

"Come on, Harry," Hermione said, slapping her husbands arm. "We need to get ready and have a shower-"

"Mum, you have one hour, not one year," Lily interrupted.

"That's alright," Harry replied, smiling and jumping out of the bed, grabbing Hermione on the way up. "We'll take the shower together."

"Those were mental images I just _did not _need," Lily said, holding up her hands and closing her eyes. Harry laughed and dragged his wife into the bathroom.

----

Almost an hour later, Harry and Hermione appeared in the kitchen. Lily had made her brother's breakfast and the five of them had just finished eating.

"Sorry we took so long," Harry apologised, grabbing a piece of toast from the table and biting into it. "We-"

"I don't even want to know," Lily interrupted, looking into her cereal bowl. Harry smiled and looked up with everyone else as the doorbell rung.

"I'll get it!" Marcus cried.

"No! I want to get it!" Thomas argued, following his younger brother out of the kitchen. They reappeared moments later dragging Luna, Neville and Kieran into the kitchen. Kieran instantly walked over to Lily's chair and kissed her.

"That's _disgusting_!" Marcus wailed, pulling a face similar to one someone would make after drinking sour milk. Harry didn't seem to being hiding his scowl too well either and looked away so that he wouldn't have to watch any more.

"You won't be saying that when _you _get a girlfriend," Kieran replied, smirking. Marcus pulled another face to show him just what he thought of that idea and Kieran chuckled, pulling out the extra chair at the table to seat himself.

"Kieran's right," James added, smirking. "Girls _always _taste like chocolate when you kiss them." Thomas' eyes lit up.

"Do they really?" he asked, excitedly, his love for chocolate overpowering the disgust at seeing his sister kissing Kieran.

"Yeah, and strawberries." Lily glared at him and picked up a piece of her toast, throwing it directly at James' head.

"Well that was uncalled for," he muttered. Lily rolled her eyes and sunk into her boyfriends embrace.

"Can we open presents yet?" Marcus questioned, looking up at his mum expectedly.

"When Anna, Michelle and Ron's family get here-"

"Oh, that reminds me!" James cried, jumping up from the table and rushing up the stairs. Everyone looked after him and a few minutes later, he appeared at the door again with a wooden box. Lily looked at him suspiciously. James only smiled and opened the box, holding up a piece of mistletoe that began to float around the room as soon as he let go of it.

"Oh you have _got _to be joking me!" Lily cried, watching the mistletoe careful so as not to be caught under it in front of her parents.

"Rules of this mistletoe," James announced. "There will be no stepping from underneath it without giving your partner a _proper _kiss-"

"James-"

"Rules are rules!" he argued, picking more mistletoe from the box and hurling it into the air, much to the displeasure of Kieran, Lily and Sirius. Lily was about to lecture him when the doorbell rung again.

"I'll get it!"

----

It was mid-day before everyone had arrived and finished opening their presents. Ron and Lily were helping their ten year old son, Ryan, put together a new toy that he'd gotten, while Harry and Hermione were sitting on the sofa watching their kids. So far, Lily and Sirius had managed to avoid their brother's mistletoe, but knew that, that wouldn't be the case for much longer. The enchanted plant didn't seem to go anywhere near him or Anna, though they'd had to endure painful moments of their parents going in for a full blown snog under the mistletoe. Sirius and Michelle had been the victims of many cruel jokes from James - even Lily and Kieran were at the receiving end of a few.

James was currently trying to fix up a piece of the enchanted mistletoe. Lily grabbed it off him and flung it up into the air again.

"Hey!" James cried, reaching for it and earning him a slap.

"Leave that piece of mistletoe alone, James," she warned.

"But I-"

"_You _aren't going to do anything to it-"

"You don't even know what I was going to do!"

"And I probably don't _want _to know." James smiled and waited until she was no longer paying attention before grabbing the mistletoe back out of the air above him. Anna looked round at Lily.

"Is he like this often?" she questioned, smiling.

"Yes, but don't worry, you're his girlfriend. You won't be on the receiving end of his jokes. In fact, you might be able to talk him out of some of them," Lily replied, thoughtfully, scowling when she saw him fiddling with a piece of mistletoe.

"It's snowing!" Marcus cried, running to the window and bouncing up and down happily. "Can I go and play in it?"

"Come on," Harry replied, jumping off the sofa. "Let's go and make a snowman."

----

Much to the dismay of Lily and Sirius, the mistletoe followed them outside, floating dangerously close to them as they attempted to make a snowman. It didn't take long for them all to forget about it though when they all got into a snowball fight. Lily hid behind the tree at the back of their garden as a snowball came hurtling towards her and then grabbed Michelle as she mad to run past, pulling her behind the tree too.

"Is it only me who think boys against girls is slightly unfair?" she asked, dusting snow off her coat.

"Well, we _are _a little outnumbered," Lily admitted. "But the boys will get what they deserve in the end." Michelle smiled and looked round the tree hesitantly to see where the boys were. Sirius was at the end of the garden near the back door making more snowballs and James and Kieran were checking behind the sheds for anyone hiding there. Ryan and Thomas were caring a snowball in each hand and were standing lookout near the swing set. Anna was hiding behind the playhouse next to them and had a good supply of snowballs stacked in front of her.

"On three," Lily whispered, picking up a handful of snow. Michelle and Anna nodded, and on three they charged out. Sirius was hit first and another snowball hit Kieran in the face, causing him to slip on the snow and fall flat on his back. James dodged the one thrown at him and grabbed Lily round the waist, sending the two of them crashing to the floor.

"James!" Lily warned as she saw him pick up his dropped snowball. The only response she got was an innocent smile and the next thing she knew there was a lump full of snow in her face. Brushing it off with his gloved hand, she grabbed James, pushed him off her and shoved him face first into the snow. Looking round briefly, she saw Thomas and Ryan both attacking Michelle with Sirius' supply of snowballs. Sirius was on the floor, laughing, only stopping when Anna came up behind him and dumped a snowball on his head. Before she had a chance to get up, James grabbed her again and shoved a handful of snow down the back of her shirt.

"Oh my God! James!"

"Yes, dear sis?"

"Ugh! Go away!" she said, poking her tongue out at him and pushing him away from her. He smiled and ran off towards Anna. Lily rolled her eyes and stood up, spotting Kieran still lying in the snow a few feet in front of her.

"Now wasn't that just _such _a good shot?" she asked, standing above him. He cracked one eye open and smiled.

"I thought it might have been you that threw it at me."

"Me? Never," she replied, sarcastically. Kieran chuckled and closed his eyes again.

"Come on, up you get." Lily kicked some snow in his direction and he growled as it landed on his stomach before reaching up, grabbing Lily's arm and pulling her on top of him.

"That was cold," he stated after she'd stopped laughing.

"It's snow, it usually is." Kieran opened his eyes and glared at her mockingly before flipping them over so that he was pinning her to the floor.

"I suppose you think you're funny, Lily Potter?"

"I think I'm hilarious," she replied.

"Cocky too."

"Of course."

"And not in need of a kiss from her boyfriend, obviously-" Kieran made to pull away, only to stop when Lily pushed herself onto her elbows and kissed him.

----

"James, give us a hand," Sirius pleaded, seeing his brother come up behind Anna. She was taken by surprise as James hoisted her onto his shoulder, giving Sirius time to run away. He then bent down, picked up a snowball, put Anna on the floor and dumped it on her head.

"Merry Christmas!" he cried, jokingly. Anna laughed and kissed him.

"Has anyone ever told you what a complete idiot you are?"

"People may have mentioned it," he replied, smirking. Anna wrapped her arms around him in a hug and he returned it, closing his eyes and smiling. It was when he opened them and spotted his sister and Kieran that a smile broke out on his face.

"Oi! Stop making out in the snow, you two!"

"Piss off!" Kieran shouted back. James chuckled and deciding to make the most of the day, pulled away and kissed his girlfriend again.

----

Needless to say, the snowball fight didn't really continue after that and the 8 of them trudged into the house, dripped wet. Their parents looked up at them from the seats on the sofa and smiled.

"Have fun?" Harry asked, catching Thomas as he jumped into his arms.

"Yep."

"We'll make a snowman in a minute," he promised, pulling his sons hat off. Thomas nodded enthusiastically and Harry turned to the rest of the kids still standing in the doorway.

"Who won?" he asked. Everyone looked at each other, smiling.

"We all did," Lily replied, hugging Kieran. Harry was about to look away when he noticed the piece of mistletoe floating above them. James looked up to see what he'd saw and burst out laughing when he realised that it was above Sirius and Michelle.

"Oh you have _got _to be joking me," Sirius muttered, looking up at it and then at Michelle's parents. Michelle for her part had turned the most brilliant shade of red Harry had ever seen.

"Come on James, take the mistletoe away," Harry told him.

"I can't."

"James-"

"No really, I can't. It's enchanted and once it's over someone there's nothing I can do." Lily looked at Michelle sympathetically before swatting her brother.

"That was mean, James."

"Thank you, I do try," he quipped, sinking onto the sofa beside his parents. Sirius rolled his eyes and turned to Michelle who, like him, had been looking awkwardly at her parents.

"Come on guys, the sooner you get it over with, the sooner you can step out from underneath it," James said, smiling at them. Sirius glared at him before turning to Michelle and hesitantly pressing his lips to hers. He smiled when he felt her arms slid up to wrap around his neck.

"Just so you know," Lily said, patting her twins shoulder. "They've been going out since the beginning of December."

"They…what?" James asked, gob-smacked.

----

Harry looked at the snowman he'd made with his children and smiled to himself, watching them as they dressed it in whatever items of clothing they could afford to take off. Lily had lost her scarf, James his hat and Thomas his gloves.

"How come you're not dressing up the snowman with them?" a voice asked behind him. Harry turned round to find Hermione leaning on the doorframe. He held open his arms and she walked towards him, wrapping her cloak tighter around herself in attempt to keep warm.

"I was just thinking," he replied, resting his cheek atop her head.

"About what?"

"Everything. I was just remembering." Hermione smiled and closed her eyes. "They all grew up so quickly. I still remember when you had James and Lily. I was more scared than anything else."

"You think _you _were scared?" Hermione questioned. "I was absolutely terrified." Harry smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"And I'll never forget the look on your face when I suggested Fred and George should be Sirius' God-Parents. I was actually scared you hex me for suggesting something so stupid."

"Oh, I was going to," Hermione replied. "But you looked so upset when you thought I was going to say no, that I changed my mind."

"I love you all so much," Harry whispered, wrapping his arms tighter around her. "I know we haven't had the best year as a family and most of that is my fault-"

"What's brought this on?" Hermione asked, pulling away enough to look at him. Harry shrugged.

"I was just looking at them and thinking that in 3 more years, Lily and James will be old enough to leave home, Thomas will be starting Hogwarts and…"

"And?"

"I don't know. I was looking at Lily and Kieran and James and Anna and I just wanted you to know how much I love you."

"Well, I love you too." Harry pulled her back towards him and closed his eyes again.

"In three more years," he summed up. "Lily can get married."

"It's a pretty scary thought," Hermione admitted. She felt Harry nod his head.

"I'm beginning to understand how your dad felt when we told him we were getting married. It feels like your kids don't need you anymore-" Hermione cut him off with a kiss, cupping his face in her hands.

"They'll _always _need you. And they'll _always _love you," she said, resting her forehead against his. "No matter who they marry, or where they're living, they'll always love you more than anything." Harry smiled and kissed her again.

"You're so wonderful," he breathed, making her smile. "You're the most wonderful person in the world."

"I should hope so," she replied, hugging him again. "You're pretty wonderful yourself." Harry laughed and picked her up round the waist, twirling her round playfully.

"I love you, Hermione."

"I love you too." After one more kiss Harry pulled away and clapped his hands.

"Right everyone. Whoever hits Mummy with the most snowballs wins!"

"Harry!"

"Ready, steady, go!" he shouted, grabbing Hermione round the waist again and watching as all 5 of his kids charged towards them, a snowball in each hand. It was then that he decided that Hermione was right. They'd always love him and no matter what, he'd always love them too.

**A/N - Just in case anyone cares, the conversation between Harry and Hermione was inspired by a fan video on youtube about Harry and Hermione's relationship from Hermione's dad point of view.  
I think it's called "I loved Her First" so..you know..if you want to watch it :P **


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